Re: 'Pinning' items to Start Menu

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Thanks Nepatsfan.

I'm not sure about the group policies. I'm the admin and I've never
specified that I wanted this feature disabled, but adding the registry value
has enabled the feature, so that's a great help.

Unfortunately, it appear that I can only 'Pin' local items which is a great
pity because most of the files I want quick access to are located elsewhere
on the LAN. I've tried adding shortcuts to the remote files in a local
folder, but this doesn't work either. Looks like the best I can do is
pinning the new local folder itself (which is not quite as logical or as
immediate) or use normal shortcuts on the Desktop (not what I wanted as I
use my Desktop for work in progress and stuff that's still to be filed
properly).

To be honest, I think I'll probably revert to using the Classic menu and
forfeit some of the nice touches of the Start Menu in favour of the
Classic's superior customisation in this respect.

--

Plegron Snaith


"Nepatsfan" <nepatsfan@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eGUL2vDPIHA.5184@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Plegron" <plegron@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:O6NRq2%23OIHA.2208@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Some installations of XP allow the user to add links to the Start Menu as
shortcuts to (some) programs, files and folders.

I'm talking about the area of the Start Menu on the left above the list
of recently opened programs and below the user's log on name. It's
separated from the list of recently opened programs by a division rule,
but only seems to appear on some flavours of XP. I have it on my laptop
that's running XP Home and used to have it on earlier work PCs, but my
current work PCs, recently built and running XP pro installed from a
recent Action Pack CD, don't have it.

Why is this? Is it to do with the fact that the work PC are part client
machines that have been added to a domain or because we're using roaming
profiles?

I have no need for the list of recently opened programs on the Start Menu
as I have added shortcuts to all main programs on the Quick Launch area,
so having the ability to access frequently opened files and folders from
this part of the Start Menu his is an extremely useful feature. I have
found very little information on how to enable and use this feature and
nothing detailing it's behaviour which I have learned something about
from trial and error.

Is there any way to enable this feature where it doesn't appear to be
enabled?

Where can I find some more documentation about this feature and how it
works?

There appears to be no equivalent in Vista which I find rather surprising
given the huge amount of work MS has recently undertaken in the area of
the Windows GUI. I know the new search feature is great for quick access
to a very wide range of documents and programs, but for stuff you need
regular access to, it's hard to beat just hitting the Start button and
selecting it straight off a short hotlist.

--

Plegron Snaith




This is a question you should be asking the people who administer your
work computers. There's a group policy setting that when enabled will turn
off this feature. If it's set through the Local Security Policy on Windows
XP Pro (Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc) it creates the following registry
entry and gives it a value of 1.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoStartMenuPinnedList

It's possible that the machines that don't have this feature are members
of an Organizational Unit within your Active Directory Domain and there's
a domain policy in place that removes this feature from the Start menu.

For more info on this subject, take a look at these articles.

Policy settings for the Start menu in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292504/en-us

Remove Pinned Programs List from the Start Menu
http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/1036/

Good luck

Nepatsfan




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