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"Kele" <> wrote in message
news:4cf5a14c$0$1001$ ...
> Hey Jeff,
>
> I believe you can make your Start Menu the way you want it. Hopefully, we
> helped John (and maybe others) know that it is possible and it's really
> not
> hard. It would take only about two minutes to show but explaining it is
> deep.
>
> This response has to do with your last sentence (below). To me the Start
> Menu is an assortment of quick access' (links) to the corresponding
> program
> (or file) on c:\Program Files (a common location). We can make a Start
> Menu
> (that's the one at the bottom left of the screen) > Programs shortcut to
> just about anything from anywhere on the computer. To edit the Start Menu
> items, there are a couple of ways. I think the most empowering way is
> going
> to: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu, where username is your
> computer user name or maybe it's admin if you have only the one.
> Manipulating the contents is similar to creating folders, moving, deleting
> files in your My Documents folder. Only thing is that the Start Menu (the
> C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu folder) is comprised of
> links
> and not actual files or documents. I read you explain creating links to
> John. If we can create a link, we can place it in our Start Menu folder.
> Then if we look at the Start button at the lower left of the screen, it
> will
> be there - wherever the link was placed. For the record, it would be
> unwise
> to actually place (paste) a file or program into the C:\Documents and
> Settings\username\Start Menu folder as that would be a duplicate on your
> computer and the Start Menu would have to contend with opening more than
> just a link (couple of kilobytes). Most people just drag desktop
> shortcuts
> to the Start button and then to a sub-menu and let go. That's ok too, but
> it's not ok for making a [new] folder in the Start Menu. For that, go to:
> C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu folder and then at the top
> of
> the explorer window, File > New Folder (or shortcut).
>
> My people freak-out when they see me delete anything from their Start Menu
> because they think that I'm deleing the program. For example, I like to
> delete the Acrobat Reader icon from Start > Programs. Have we ever opened
> the program Acrobat Reader or do we click on a PDF document and the
> associated program (Acrobat Reader) is launched. They freak some more
> when
> I also delete it off their desktop. And how many places do we need a
> QuickTime shortcut? No point in keeping links that we'll never use.
> Funny
> thing I'll share... my brother emails me attachments that are just the
> links
> from his desktop. Of course I can't use his links. Thanks Carol for
> helping me understand the difference between a link and an actual file.
>
> An exercise about this subject for XP users:
>
> Right-click on your desktop > New Shortcut. In the create shortcut dialog
> that follows enter (paste):
> %windir%\system32\RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll
> Next dialog window, name it "Remove Hardware"
>
> On your desktop is now a link to the computer's dll file that launches the
> Safely Remove Hardware window. Drag that shortcut to the Start button, up
> past the line and let it go. You've just edited your Start Menu with a
> useful link(s). Change the icon if you like. Delete it, move it back to
> the desktop or elsewhere; it doesn't matter... It's just a link!
>
>
> PS: yes, Jeff, C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu [and] Start
> Menu (that's the one at the bottom left of the screen) = one in the same.
> I think the registry is a translation of the GUI interface into computer
> language, so yes whatever we do to the Start Menu is conveyed to the
> computer via the registry. You can probably affect change to the Start
> Menu
> by changing the registry... but let's not go there.
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------
> "Jeff Strickland" <> wrote:
>
> I was speaking to what I thought the OP was saying about making a shortcut
> to a folder, then droping the shortcut into the START>PROGRAMS
> menu/folder.
> All that would happen in such a scenario is that the folder shortcut would
> open the folder, not the program. I agree with you completely that Program
> Installation will often (almost always) generate a host of folder within
> the
> Start Programs menu, but my understanding of these is that they are
> actually
> created through Registry entries.
>
> I believe (now) that the OP is using Programs Folder under the Start Menu
> and Program Files Folder off of the Root Directory interchangably, or at
> least I have interchanged them based on what I thought he was saying.
>
> There appears to me to be some confusion of the purpose and placement of
> the
> Start Programs and Program Files folders.
>
>
>


That's all true and correct, but the OP said in a way that was confusing,
that he wanted to invoke a program link that he had deleted so he made a
shortcut to the folder of said program, then placed that shortcut on the
Start>Programs menu and was disappointed that it didn't work the way he
thought it should. THAT was the thinking I had when I said that you can't
(shouldn't) put folder shortcuts on the Start>All Programs menu.

I get that one can create sub-folders of the Start>All Programs menu, but I
didn't get that the OP was wanting to go down that road. I wasn't saying
that it can't be done, I was saying that the Start>All Programs menu is
populated with shortcuts.