15th February 2002

We all know that WIN+R will launch the Run dialog. And if you didn't know that before, you do now. It's an easy way to launch programs in your path or Web pages (provided they start with either "http" or "www"). You can make a shortcut to this command easily in Windows XP, but first you need to have the default Start Menu view enabled. Once that's done, simply drag & drop the Run icon from the menu to your desktop (which is akin to a "cradle to the grave" operation). Rename it at will. While we're on the subject of XP Professional's Start Menu, if you wanna get rid of the Help and Logoff icons, TweakUI may not do the trick. Launch gpedit.msc (from the Run command line). Be careful what you toggle in here; you could very well deny access to essential Windows features. Select User Configuration | Administrative Templates | Start Menu and Taskbar | Remove [This] menu from Start Menu. Of course, [This] could be "Help," "Logoff," or any other menu component. Note that the "F1" key will still respond to your call. When you uncover any other nifty tweaks in this applet, we'd love to hear about 'em.