Start Menu Problem

[Vince]

Hi,

I'm using Win XP Home with SP2.
I use the normal XP theme. But smething happened to my registry the other day, and now i cant see any of the "Recently used programs" which appear in the first column of the Start Menu... Only Outlook Express is there at the top.. Any way i can change it back? I've tried rightclicking and clearing the List of recently used programs to see if it'd be reset, but its still blank...

Also, i want to remove the "My Recent Documents" from the second colum of the Start Menu.
I'd be grateful for any help...

Thanks
Vince..

 

[Renegade]

Right click on taskbar->properties->start menu->customize->advanced
Remove the tick from the check box to disable recently opened documents.
taskbar->properties->start menu->customize->general
this has how many programs you want in your start menu. Play around to check.

 

[Vince]

^^Thanks Renegade. But it aint working.

For problem 1: I tried you advice. There is no mention of Recently Opened Documents or anything related..
For Problem 2: i've always kept 5. i've tried opening programs that used to appear there (like winamp, WMP, BitComet,etc) and i've even rebooted. but it aint working...

 

[dipdude]

ok vince try this,

prob 1 : get into taskbar prop/customize/general-progams-no of prog's on startmenu ---- make sure it's not zero.

prob 2 : taskbar prop/customize/advanced-recent documents- take the tick off list my recent documets.

also for prob 1 try opening diff prog's few times.

 

[deejay]

Do as follows...
1) Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc -> Enter

2) in the resulting group policy Window
Navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates
Expand this and select Start Menu and Taskbar.

3) on the right hand side window select "Remove frequent programs list from the Start menu" (The 8th item from bottom). double click on it and in the settings window select either "Not Configured" or "Disable" to enable this list from being shown in the start menu. click apply to enforce this setting.

4) Next select "Do not Keep History of Recently Opened Documents". Double click on it and in the settings window select "Enabled" to disable this entry from being shown in the start menu. click apply to enforce this setting.

ps: use Global policy editor with extreme caution and change only the values that is giving you problems.

 

[Vince]

Thank you dipdude and deejay for responding!

@ Dipdude: Dude.... did you read my post JUST ABOVE YOUR SUGGESTION?

@deejay: gpedit.msc isnt working... Windows cannot find it....

 

[deejay]

@deejay: gpedit.msc isnt working... Windows cannot find it....

oops just read in ur first post that you have XP home. it is not supported in XP Home. will post solution for home asap.

Edit: You may try using "TweakUI For Windows" version 2.10. It is part of "Powertoys for Windows XP" released by Microsoft. (search "Powertoys for Windows XP" {Without Quotes} using google for the exact link to the MS site.)
in Tweakui you would find these settings under "Explorer"

 

[dipdude]

ok here you go again backup the concerned reg entry first.

goto
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Policy

0 is disable, 1 is enabled

"NoStartMenuMFUprogramsList" = set it to 0
"NoRecentDocsMenu" = set it to 1

 

[Vince]

Thanks again Deejay and Dipdude!!

I tried you solution Dipdude, the direct registry editing worked!!!
Thanks a million man!

@deejay: Thanks for the tip on TweakUI anyway!