Workstation NT - Start Menu on Windows NT Workstation

Managing the Start Menu

Directory Structure

yes it's ugly but it works...

To Hide the Documents Menu:

at HKU\Software\Microsoft \Windows\Current Version \Policies \Explorer, add Reg_Binary key NoRecentDocsMenu=01 00 00 00

To Hide the Favorites Menu:

at HKU\Software\Microsoft \Windows\Current Version \Policies \Explorer, add Reg_Binary key NoFavoritesMenu=01 00 00 00

To Hide the Logoff item:

at HKU\Software\Microsoft \Windows\Current Version \Policies \Explorer, add Reg_Binary key NoLogOff=01 00 00 00

If you go to C:\{systemroot}\Profiles, you'll see a folder for each User account name, and two more: All Users and Default Users. All Users contains shortcuts that will appear in everyone's Start Menu, and Default User is like a template for any new User you add, or the folder used by the Guest account.

Each profile folder has a Desktop folder and a Start Menu folder. Desktop is a graphical representation of the current User's desktop minus the system folders.

Start Menu is the contents of each User's Start Menu. Any program/file shortcuts found in {username}\Start Menu appear at the top of that User's Start Menu (that is, over the Programs menu and separator), ordered by file name (hint: rename the shortcuts using numbers to get them to appear in the order you want). If you drag and drop a file to the Start Menu, that file is placed in this directory.

With Internet Explorer 4's Windows Desktop Update, you can drag and drop menu items to arrange them to your liking.

{Username}\Start Menu also contains the Programs folder, which is the Programs menu item in your Start Menu (over the separator bar). Anything you put in this Programs folder will appear in the cascading menu of Start Menu\Programs. You can add, delete, or rename any directory and file in {Username}\Start Menu\Programs to adjust the Start Menu however you'd like.

An exception is Common Groups, which appear under the separator bar in Start Menu\Programs. Those shortcuts can be found in All Users\Start Menu\Programs.

With Internet Explorer 4's Windows Desktop Update, there is no separator bar between the "Current User's" Program files and "All Users" Program files

You can hide Common Groups per User using a Registry setting (see the sidebar of the Dealing with your Desktop page). You can also simply move the Common Groups to a new folder ({username}\Start Menu\Programs), although this action may break some programs' uninstalls (and the simple way to remedy this, of course, is the move the program folders back to All Users when you want to run setups).

Another exception seems to be the Startup directories, which you can't delete. However, you can consolidate them all into one by dragging them to the C:\{systemroot}\Profiles\All Users\Programs directory. You'll get a message that a Startup directory already exists in All Users\Programs (and a query regarding overwriting existing files), but it'll work. You're essentially moving the extraneous Startup directories to All Users\Programs.