Controlling the Vista Start Menu

Other Customizations

Besides the Windows Desktop Search, probably the next easiest way to launch an application is to choose its program icon from the Start menu. Fortunately, the Vista Start menu carries forth an innovation first introduced in Windows XP where the most frequently used programs reside in a list on the Start menu’s lefthand side. I discussed a couple of options for changing what’s displayed here in the previous section.

The list is actually divided into two parts: programs that appear in the bottom division are the most recently opened applications, and just how many appear depends on the customization settings discussed earlier. The ones living in the upper section have been pinned to the Start menu and will always show there, no matter how often they are accessed.

For example, Windows Mail might appear in your Start menu even if you’ve never opened the program because that’s what the Mail link specifies in the Start Menu Customization dialog box.

But as with Windows XP, you have complete control over what is pinned to the Start menu and what is not. You can place other program shortcuts in the pinned section by right-clicking the Start menu icon and choosing Pin to Start Menu from the context menu.

To remove a program from the pinned section, right-click its shortcut and this time choose Unpin from Start Menu. Remember, neither option will change anything else about the program besides how easy it is to find in the Start menu. And if you pin a frequently used program, Vista is smart enough not to show it to you twice in the program list.

Setting the Start menu back to the defaults

As you’ve seen, it’s quite easy to tailor the Start menu. This ease of use can be the proverbial double-edged sword, however. A user who has configured all sorts of Start menu options to best suit her working style may be passing on a computer that is difficult for another person to use if she leaves the company or is simply issued a brand-new machine.

Fortunately, there’s also an easy way to set the Start menu back to its defaults without having to go through either a reinstall or a lengthy reconfiguration process. Here’s what to do:

1. Right-click the Start menu and choose Properties from the context menu.
   
2. Choose the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.
   
3. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, click Use Default Settings, as shown in Figure 4-5. Click OK to finish the procedure.

Figure 4-5.  Quickly resetting the Start menu to its defaults

Changing the Start menu back to its default settings does not affect any programs that have been pinned to the Start menu. Removal of pinned programs must be done manually.

The Start menu and the filesystem

So just where does this Start menu live anyway? Can I dig through the filesystem to see all of the program shortcuts? Or is it a registry setting?

The general answer to both of these questions is “yes.”

It’s just another folder in the filesystem. What a user sees in his Start menu is actually a byproduct of two file locations merging together at logon time. Here’s what happens:

Some of the program shortcuts are available to all users of the computer. Which programs, you ask? The ones stored in this file location:

  %systemdrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Other program shortcut groups are available only to the user who is currently logged on. Which ones are these? You can find them here:

  %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

where%systemdrive%  is the drive letter where the Windows Vista operating system exists, and
%UserProfile% is the path to the user’s unique set of environment folders.

Both folders just mentioned are hidden folders. To display them, you have to change the Windows Explorer Folder options by choosing Organize -> Folder and Search Options, and then selecting “Show hidden files and folders” on the View tab of the ensuing dialog box.

It’s governed by the registry. This is also true, but we’ll have to tackle that topic in a separate section in just a bit. For now, too much still needs to be said about the Start menu folders.

At startup, Vista merges the contents of these two Start menu folders and presents the user with a single Start menu, of course. For each folder stored in one of the Programs folders, as shown in Figure 4-6, Vista builds a Program Start Menu group and associated shortcuts.

Figure 4-6.  Editing a Start menu shortcut from the folder location itself

The point here is that if you’re more comfortable configuring the Start menu by using the filesystem locations, by all means go ahead. Open the desired Start menu folder location (remember to enable viewing first) and add or remove application shortcuts as you see fit.

In fact, this can present an administrator with a very powerful option for configuring a system that multiple users will access. Let’s say, for example, that you run an organization with a mobile sales force, and that every person on the sales force checks out computers as needed rather than using a company-issued laptop. You want to place a program icon onto the Start menu so that anyone on the sales team can easily find and launch an application you sell, and therefore, you want it always present on the Start menu’s list of recently used programs.

To carry out the task, simply open the following folder and add a shortcut:

  %systemdrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

The shortcut you add will now appear for all users of the system.

Adding and changing a menu

Not only can you change the program icons shown in Vista’s Start menu items, but you also can change the very nature of the menus themselves. You can add, rename, or remove the menus altogether if you want to.

As introduced in the previous section, all you have to do is know where to look. If you’re adding a menu for a particular user, for example, you need to access the user’s Start Menu folder at:

  %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Once there, you can perform the following menu tasks:

Add new menus

To create a new menu, just add a folder to the Start menu hierarchy. This new folder will appear as a separate item in the Vista Start menu.

Change existing menus

You can modify the contents of existing menus by moving folders or shortcuts to new locations.

Rename folders and/or shortcuts

This one’s self-explanatory. You can rename an item here just as you can any other file on your hard drive. Alternatively, you can right-click the item from the Start menu itself and choose Rename from the context menu.

Two Start menu items shouldn’t be renamed, moved, or deleted. They are the Startup folder and the Administrative Tools folder. In the case of the Startup folder, altering its properties can prevent Vista from using it. As for the Administrative Tools folder, any changes, such as whether or not the administrative tools display, should be performed using the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, as discussed multiple times in this chapter.

Adding Administrative Tools to the Vista Start Menu

Earlier in this section, we discussed the Classic Start menu and its familiar way of adding the administrative tools to its list of possible programs. I know from experience that this is a favorite of many a Windows administrator, and it is even the reason that many still use the Classic Start menu interface.

But it’s also easy to add the administrative tools to the Vista Simple Start menu as well. When you add them to the other ease-of-use benefits of the new Start menu, this helps make the new way of doing things all the more compelling.

Here’s how to set it up:

1. Right-click the Start button and choose Properties from the context menu, launching the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.
   
2. Select the Start Menu tab and then the Customize button.
   
3. Scroll down the list of customization options. As seen in Figure 4-7, you’ll see two possible choices regarding the display of administrative tools:
   
   • Display on the All Programs menu
     
   • Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu
     
4. Click OK twice to complete the action.

Figure 4-7.  Displaying options for the administrative tools

Now the entire range of administrative tools is but a click or two away.

Changing the Start menu picture

Now for some more fun features. If you’ve been shipped a computer with Vista pre-installed or have recently upgraded to Vista, you have likely noticed a picture associated with the user account located in the Start menu’s upper-righthand side, just above the username.

You can change this picture if you want. Here’s how:

1. From the Control Panel, open the User Accounts applet. In the Standard View, look under the User Accounts and Family Safety grouping.
   
2. Once there, choose the “Change your picture” link. You’ll now see a group of preinstalled pictures. As shown in Figure 4-8, simply click the picture you want to use, and then click Change Picture.

Boring. More fun: use a picture of your own by choosing the “Browse for more pictures” option, and then navigate to the picture you want to use. Select the picture and then click Open.

Controlling Start menu behavior with the registry

As mentioned, what appears on the Start menu is also a byproduct of certain registry settings, and you can control the Start menu by making direct edits to the registry. The registry is a database of information that tells the operating system—in this case, Vista—how to behave.

To edit the registry, first you need to open the Vista registry editing tool. It’s the same one used in previous versions of Windows—Regedit—and opening it is pretty straightforward. From the Start menu, simply type regedit, and the utility should appear in the program list.

Figure 4-8.  Changing the Start menu picture

Now that the Registry Editor is open, navigate to this key, shown in Figure 4-9:

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

Figure 4-9.  Start menu changes can also be performed by editing the registry

Once there, you can add something called DWORD values to the Explorer key to modify Start menu behavior. To add a DWORD value, follow these steps:

1. Use the Registry Editor’s Edit menu, or just right-click in the Details (righthand) pane, and choose New -> DWORD (32-bit) value.
   
2. The new DWORD value appears, with a name similar to “New Value #1.” Rename this value using a name from Table 4-2.
   
3. Now, assign the DWORD a value. Fortunately, we have only two options for the values discussed here: 1 or 0. In other words, the feature will be on or off, with 1 signifying on and 0 indicating off. Either setting can be used to force an administrative change.

For example, if you want to make sure the username is removed from the Start menu, add the DWORDNoUserNameInStartMenuand set the value to 1. If you want to make sure the username is always displayed, on the other hand, add the same DWORD and set the value to 0.

Now, refer to Table 4-2 for other Start menu changes that you can force through the registry.

You can then go back and safely remove any DWORD values you’ve added by accessing the following registry key and then simply deleting the DWORD itself:

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

Deleting registry keys is generally not a good idea. You’re in effect performing brain surgery on Vista when you do, and the wrong deletion can leave Vista with the equivalent of a lobotomy, or worse. In fact, Vista warns you about these implications every time you delete a registry entry, and now you’ve been warned in this book as well.

As a final thought, also note that all of the preceding will change if you’re using the 64-bit version of Windows Vista, but not by much. Instead of adding 32-bit DWORD values, you’ll add 64-bit QWORD values. The names of the entries themselves should remain the same.

You can also change the Start menu power button behavior, but I think that fits better in the discussion about startup and shutdown, including a full mention of hibernate, sleep, and so on. Chapter 6 covers these topics.

Controlling the Taskbar

So just what is that thing at the bottom of the screen there? You know, the thing that holds all of the program buttons, the Start menu button, and all those other little icons on the far-righthand side. Does it even have a name?

It does, and as most admins are already aware, it’s called the taskbar. Configuring taskbar behavior can present a little more of a challenge than just remembering its name, however. It may seem like a trivial, almost inconsequential, part of the greater Vista picture. But before you dismiss it, consider what a huge impact the taskbar has on overall Vista usability. It provides quick access to a wealth of operating system and application information, and it is the key navigational tool for most users when switching among applications.

Given its vital role, then, it’s important that administrators understand how to customize taskbar behavior to best suit not only their needs, but also the needs of users in the enterprise. This section tackles the many methods administrators can use to tweak taskbar behavior.

Recall that one nice enhancement of the taskbar is the ability to see a live thumbnail of the application contents, as shown in Figure 4-10. This is predicated, however, on using the Vista Aero interface.

Figure 4-10.  Live thumbnails in the taskbar

Changing Taskbar Size and Position

You already know about the taskbar’s default location: at the bottom of the screen. By default, it’s wide enough to contain one row of application buttons. But you can change both of these characteristics with a few simple clicks of the mouse.

To change the taskbar size, move the mouse pointer over the edge of the taskbar until you see a double-headed arrow. Now just click and drag to increase the taskbar real estate. This might be especially handy if you decide not to group taskbar items together, as discussed later on.

To change the taskbar location, left-click an empty taskbar area and drag. The taskbar can be housed on the left, right, or top of the desktop area, as well as in its default location at the bottom of the screen.

Each technique requires that the taskbar not be locked, because you cannot change the taskbar while it is locked. To unlock the taskbar, just right-click an empty area and make sure there’s no check next to the Lock the Taskbar menu option.

 Please check back next week for the continuation of this article.