NOTE: This tutorial has been featured by Microsoft. AskVG.com was the first website posting this unique trick.
IMPORTANT: This method will also replace "Favorites" list in Internet Explorer with "All Programs" list.
Many people complain about Windows Vista and 7 start menu. They want Windows XP styled "All Programs" list. Windows Vista and 7 show the All Programs list within startmenu on the other hand XP shows it in a new expanded column outside the startmenu.
Recently we received an email from "James Phillips":
Dear Vishal, I am contacting you as a last resort (I have already stated my problem in various forums and blogs with no success whatsoever).
My problem is with Vista's start menu, specifically the way it displays the All Programs list. Instead of showing the list within the start menu itself, i would like it to expand out into a new column, just like in XP.
I know this function is available using the classic menu, but i actually like all of the other features in the normal menu (search etc...) so I would prefer not to use classic.
thanks for any suggestions you may have.
Actually there is a way to enable XP styled All Programs list in Vista, 7 and Server 2008.
Long time back, we posted a tutorial to customize Windows XP start menu:
Change Look-n-Feel of Windows XP Start Menu
We'll use the Step 5 mentioned in above tutorial to implement XP styled Programs list in Vista and 7. We'll replace "Favorites" menu with "All Programs" menu.
1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now go to following keys one by one:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
2. Now you'll need to change the value of Favorites string value in right-side pane to:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Change C: to your system drive, where windows is installed in your system.
3. That's it. Log off or restart your system and now "Favorites" link in start menu will change to "Programs" and will show all program shortcuts installed in your system just like XP start menu does.
NOTE: If you can't see the new menu in startmenu, you'll need to enable "Favorites Menu" from Taskbar Properties -> Start Menu -> Customize.
4. You can also disable the All Programs button in start menu. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
In right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoStartMenuMorePrograms and set its value to 1
Now log off or restart your system and the final output will look as following:
As you can see, the new Programs menu shows the program shortcuts very similar to XP and "All Programs" button is no longer there.
PS: If you want a ready-made registry script to do the task automatically, then download following ZIP file, extract it and run the extracted REG file. It'll ask for confirmation, accept it. Restart your system to take affects:
NOTE: If you want to restore the default settings, Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now go to following keys:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
In right-side pane, change value of "Favorites" to:
%USERPROFILE%\Favorites
This article was posted by VG in following section: Windows 7, Windows Vista.
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Stevie
Wow, this is just tooooooo awsome! He he, sorry for that. This is great after a year of using Windows 7, the default "all programs" is almost the only thing I just can't get used to. Why did they have to layer it like that? I never check through my programs anymore, whereas before with xp I used to check through them regularly.
ANyway thanks for the fix, I shall have to try it out.
Stevie
Hi, I read somewhere else that they used the "Downloads" folder instead of the "Favourites" folder? Would this work?
vaporize
well not favorites in internet explorer is the all programs menu...soo what happened to the internet favorites????
roxy
Is anyone else having the problem that the "folders" open the the LEFT side of the program list instead of the right side like in windows XP? Is there any way to fix this?
VG
^^ May be you are talking about this:
http://www.askvg.com/how-to-change-menu-position-from-left-to-right-in-windows-vista/
Eric
To move the items around so that the Programs sit at the top of the list:
Right Click Taskbar -> Properties -> Start Menu -> Customize and remove everything but the Favorites menu. Click "OK" and then "Apply" and then go back in and re add everything you want to show up after the new Programs Menu.
(This might only be in Windows 7 but Right Clicking and Properties on the Favorite item in the start menu will allow you to change the location to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs" and bypass the need for registry edits)
Uewd
You said that we have to restart or log off and log on again. You can start task manager (taskmgr.exe) and end the explorer.exe process, click on File>New Task (Run...) and write explorer.exe and you'll have it without logging off or restarting if you have something important running (For example a download).
Uewd
And Thanks for this interesting topic.
Uewd
This trick is excellent. Thanks for it as I don't use favorites in IE so the favorites in IE Will be a faster navigation for the programs menu.
Pradeep
Really helpful!
I'm used to windows XP style menu and I find it a bit inconvenient to use the win 7 style menu. It's weird though that there is no straight forward option for this in the start menu properties.
Thanks,
Pradeep