Thanks, Shannon

Dear Shannon,

In Windows XP, there is a way to view all items in your start menu.
 

1. Right click on a blank spot on your taskbar and click on “Properties” in the menu that appears.

2. In the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” window, click on the “Start Menu” tab, and click on the first “Customize” button.

3. In the “Customize Start Menu” window, click on the “Advanced” tab and look at the middle section labeled “Start menu items:”

4. Scroll through the list of start menu items until you find the item that says, “Scroll Programs”. Remove the check mark from this item and click “OK” in both windows to close them.

Now your start menu will be listed in several columns instead of one scrolling column.

If you want to view all the items in your start menu in Windows Vista, just follow these directions:

1. Right click on a blank spot on your taskbar, and click on “Properties” in the context menu that appears.

2. In the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” window, click on the “Start Menu” tab and then click to select, “Classic Start Menu”.

3. Click the “OK” button at the bottom of the dialog box to save your changes and close the window.

Elizabeth 

How do I remove the list of recent items from my Vista start menu? I don’t want to remove the whole, thing, just clear the list of items so it can start again fresh.

Thanks, Ginger

Dear Ginger,

The “Recent Items” menu on your Vista start menu displays a list of the files that you have used recently. This makes it easier to go back to a file that you were working on, just by going to the recent items list and clicking on that item.

In Windows Vista, you can quickly and easily clear the recent items list. Here is how:

1. Click on the “Start” button.

2. Right click on “Recent Items”.

3. In the drop down menu, click on “Clear Recent Items List”.

You can repeat the steps above as often as you want to clear the list.

If you want to remove the Recent Items from you start menu, you can do so by following these directions:

1. Open the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” window by right clicking on a blank spot on your taksbar and clicking on “Properties” in the context menu that appears.

2. Click on the “Start Menu” tab

3. In the “Privacy” section (located in the lower half of the window) find the line that says, “Store and display a list of recently opened files”.

4. Click to remove the check mark from this line, and click the “OK” button at the bottom of the window.

If you want to put the Recent items back on your start menu, just repeat the steps above and click to place a checkmark in front of “Store and display a list of recently opened files”.

Elizabeth