Customize your Start Menu, plus tips for using Start Menu features.
Aliases and app paths
The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths
key contains a series of subkeys that identify executables with the format NAME.EXE. The Default
value entry in such a key contains a path to the appropriate executable. A second value entry, called Path
, may identify folders that are passed to that executable.
When you type NAME into the Run dialog, Windows first looks for it in the Windows folder, then in the system directory, then at the DOS path set up before Windows loaded. If it does not find an executable with that name in any of these locations, Windows looks in the App Paths key. If it finds a corresponding key, Windows runs the specified executable.
The name you type in does not have to be identical to the executable, but it must match the name of the key. Consequently, you can use these keys to set up quick aliases for often used programs, batch files or groups of applications. The Windows Interface Guidelines claim that if you move an executable, Windows adjusts these App Paths entries; testing shows this is NOT true.
Changing Start Menu icons
The icons displayed for the hard-wired Start Menu items (Programs, Documents, Settings, Find, Help, Run, Suspend and Shut Down) are stored in SHELL32.DLL
in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM
folder. Entries in the Registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Icons
will magically remap the Shell32.dll icons to display the icons of your choice.
The indices of the Start Menu icons are as follows:
20 Programs 21 Documents 22 Settings 23 Find 24 Help 25 Run 26 Suspend 28 Shut Down
Shell Icons
key, remembering to subtract one from the index because Windows counts icons from zero rather than one. For the data, enter the full path to the icon or icon resource.Shell Icons
key doesn't exist, just create it. Right-click on the explorer key, select New > Key, type Shell Icons
and press Enter.Document history list
If you select Document from the Start Menu, you can view the last 15 document files that you double-clicked on or opened via a Windows 95 common dialog. This list is spawned from the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs
key, which contains a MRUList
value entry and 15 alphabetically named value entries. Each of these 15 entries holds the name of a document and the name of its shortcut in C:\Windows\Recent (in binary format).
Find Files or Folders
Did you know you can search for multiple filespecs, and search in multiple drives/paths in the Find Files or Folders applet? To use this feature, simply type the filenames (or paths) separated with a semicolon. Here's an example for 'Named'.
*.txt;*.doc;*.me;*.1st
This would find all files with .txt, .doc, .me and .1st extensions. The same will work for paths in the 'Look in' edit field, eg:
c:\;d:\winapps;f:\util
would search the root of c: plus the d:\winapps folder and also the f:\util folder. You can have Find search the subdirectories under each specified drive/path as well by checking the 'Include subfolders' checkbox.
NOTE: Some find operations (especially when searching subfolders and/or searching on a CD-ROM) can take quite a while to complete. If you see the file(s) you are looking for appear in the lower portion of the window, click the stop button to halt the search. Remember you can resize the Find window or scroll through the results even while it is busy searching (95 is a multi-tasking OS, right?).
Run history list
When you select Run from the Start Menu, the resulting dialog lets you quickly launch an executable or open a folder. This dialog's history list is stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU
key (MRU stands for most recently used). This key contains up to 28 value entries (including its Default). If your history list is full, 26 entries are identified by the letters of the alphabet; these contain the last 26 commands (in ASCII format) that you entered into the Run dialog or Explorer's Go To dialog. The MRUList
entry lists the 26 alphabetical keys according to how recently they were used; the first letter corresponds to the most recent command, the second letter to the second most recent command, and so on.