Start Menu (XP-PRO-SP2)

Topic

New Reply

Can somebody tell me what the portion of the START>ALL PROGRAMS menu is called and what is it used for?

Reply | Quote

Replies

Is your question why the All Programs menu is divided into two sections? I think that one section is from C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersStart MenuPrograms, the other section is from C:Documents and SettingsStart MenuPrograms.
Or did you want to know what Windows Catalog is for?

Reply | Quote

Thanks Hans, whilst I understand your reply I still don’t understand what is used & where unfortunately. My Start folder from “All Users” has many more programs than those shown on the graphic, which is the total list. I have searched the web and have two books on XP but cannot find any tutorial.

The books are “The Complete Reference Windows XP” by John Levine and “Windows XP Secrets” by Curt Simmonds.

Do you know of a web reference???

I appreciate your response.

Ted

Reply | Quote

I’m not a Windows expert, but we have several of those in the Lounge. Let’s hope one of them can illuminate you.

Reply | Quote

Gee your quick, I suppose I cannot understand what gives a program the priority to get into this space and why? I had to clean my Program list it went off the screen on the right hand side. All works well after the cleanup, but I recognised this area. I have found the links but “Why are they there?

Regards,

Ted

Reply | Quote

As Woody himself has explained (in Windows XP All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies), the programs below the line are a combined list from the Start MenuPrograms folder for All Users and the Start MenuPrograms folder for the individual user. The programs above the line (the area you pointed to) are a combined list from the Start Menu folder for All Users and the Start Menu folder for the individual user.

Reply | Quote

Thanks st3333ve. What you explain is exactly what I have. Originally I was ignoring the links in the Start Menu folder, I was only looking in the Programs folders.

I am now left to ponder the purpose, it is almost a repeat of the “Pin To Start” and the “Quick Launch” functions. Or am I missing the real purpose?

Thanks to everyone.

Ted

Reply | Quote

I think you’ve got the right idea. Like Quick Launch and Pin to Start, it’s another area for “high-priority” items (but less high than the first two). Microsoft undoubtedly realized that if they tried to plant Windows Catalog as a default item on the Quick Launch bar or as a “pinned” program, most users who do any significant amount of tweaking would clean it off, but figured (rightly, in my case) that if they planted it at the top of the All Programs menu, even the tweakers might leave it alone.

Reply | Quote

As st3333ve said, the Start>All Programs menu is a listing of all the installed programs on the system that are available to the user (unless some have been manually edited out). The Quick Launch and Pin to Start Menu functions are to make those programs most frequently used more available to the user.

Reply | Quote

I am NOT sure what this area is called, but the entries that are here are added by the “Install program”. I have not found where they are controlled, but most likely in the registry. They are normally removed when the program is uninstalled properly.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

I don’t know if this helps with your query, but do a search for “Start Menu” in Documents and Settings you will find folders for:

• Default User
• All Users
• Administrator
• and one for each user[/list]I’m not sure how they all meld together to contribute to the Start/ All Programs, but they represent the totality of what might appear thereon.

  Alan

Reply | Quote

Alan

You get the Start Menu entries for All Users at the top, plus those for the currently-logged-on user beneath.

You can move these around simply by moving the shortcuts between ‘users’ in Windows Explorer. For example, I move the ones I don’t want All Users to see into the corresponding folder for my own userid. (This may cause minor problems at Software Uninstall Time!)

John

Reply | Quote

[indent]

---

You get the Start Menu entries for All Users at the top, plus those for the currently-logged-on user beneath.

---

[/indent]With all due respect to you as a batch file divinity, on this particular issue I think Woody’s right and you’re a little off. See my first post in this thread.

Reply | Quote

I think I would probably have been correct in NT4!

I was more concerned about those programs which gave you no option whether to install for
a) All Users
or
the current user
and stuck their icons/shortcuts in the All Users Start folder regardless…

John

Reply | Quote