TotW: Change Hardcoded Start Menu Order |
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 May 16 2005, 06:00
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 The Main Man  Group: Admin Team Posts: 19,770 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): HTC Advantage  |
TotW: Change Hardcoded Start Menu Order
This tweak is a cool one... I've often thought about writing a UI to save doing this manual registry editing, but for now, this is how it's done  What does it do? You know how when you spark up your Start Menu a number of items are 'pinned' at the top (Messaging, IE etc)? This tweak lets you change which items are 'pinned', or indeed change the start menu so everything is sorted alphabetically. How difficult is it? This tweak involves Registry editing. So, it's pretty straightforward if you are comfortable editing the Registry, maybe not so easy if not. Disclaimer: As with all registry changes, you should be very careful when applying this tweak. Edit the wrong thing, and you could break something pretty bad  Of course, don't be too scared, you can always Hard Reset if you REALLY break something What do I need to do it? To apply this tweak, you need a tool that can edit the Registry on your phone. I recommend (in this order...) Mobile Registry Editor - This (free) application lets you edit your phone Registry from your PC - Click Here for details Resco Explorer - This fantastic little (commercial) utility provides a top notch File Explorer on your phone, plus the all important Registry Editor - Click Here for details PHM Registry Editor - This (free) utility is a standalone Registry Editor for your device - Click Here for details How do I do it then? Right! Spark up your Registry Editor of choice. I have included screenshots below using 'Resco Registry' on the Smartphone, but you'll see pretty much the same thing whatever you are using. You will be presented with a screen that looks like the following: Here you see a list of the 'Hives' in the Registry. The Registry has a 'tree like' structure, which you can navigate by scrolling and clicking, and go back by hitting, well, back Navigate yourself to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shell\StartMenu 
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Number of downloads: 104Now you will see before you a key named 'Order'. If you view the contents of this key, you'll see the list of items that are pinned on your Start Menu! Editing is a piece of cake... remove lines for items you don't want pinned, and add either folder names or shortcut (.lnk) names for those you do. The items will be pinned in the exact order you enter them in this list. I hope this tweak is useful, please let me know!  And Finally... All Done... Check back next Monday for another 'Tweak of the Week'! P -------------------- Paul O'Brien - Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices, MoDaCo.network Founder. Check out my Blog! £10 off a £20 spend at eXpansys - click for details |
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May 16 2005, 08:05
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Regular  Group: MoDaCo Plus Posts: 110 Joined: 28th February 2004 Member No.: 34,478 Device(s): Orange SPV C500 |
To make life even easier I use Jeyo Personalizer which has an option under Programs to change Program (Start Menu) Order.
You can only change the order of the first seven programs I think, don't know if this is the phone of Jeyo Personalizer. |
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May 16 2005, 10:29
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 Peanut Brain Group: MoDaCo Plus Posts: 6,134 Joined: 10th September 2004 From: Surrey, England Member No.: 56,072 Device(s): Athena, Qtek 8500 |
QUOTE(dh @ May 16 2005, 09:05) To make life even easier I use Jeyo Personalizer which has an option under Programs to change Program (Start Menu) Order. You can only change the order of the first seven programs I think, don't know if this is the phone of Jeyo Personalizer.  To make life easier still I use Smartione
-------------------- He who asks a question looks foolish for 5 minutes. He who doesn't ask a question remains foolish forever.
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May 16 2005, 10:33
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Newbie  Group: Posters Posts: 8 Joined: 4th April 2005 From: Romford, Essex, England Member No.: 121,722 Device(s): MDA Compact II Touch |
After following your great step by step guide I find that anything other than the default order and the whole lot go into alphabetical order. is there a maximum number you can have in the list?
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May 16 2005, 11:18
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 Did I say that out loud? Group: News Team Posts: 4,514 Joined: 20th August 2003 From: Kent, England Member No.: 13,469 Device(s): Kaiser, Touch |
This is a good one. Simple, but oh so useful.
For my money the best Start Menu solution is to go into /Storage/Windows/Start Menu and organise your icons into sub-folders. Not a new idea, I know, but maybe something new folks haven't heard before. It takes longer to do, and you need to do it from the PC or with the built-in phone File Manager (because of the read-only flag on the Start Menu items) but you end up with a short Start Menu and logical sub-folders for your apps. This post has been edited by chucky.egg: May 16 2005, 11:28
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May 16 2005, 17:27
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 Enthusiast  Group: Posters Posts: 212 Joined: 31st January 2005 Member No.: 107,774 Device(s): SPV C500 + C600 |
QUOTE(Tichy @ May 16 2005, 11:33) After following your great step by step guide I find that anything other than the default order and the whole lot go into alphabetical order. is there a maximum number you can have in the list? Thank you, I hadn't figured "too many" might be an issue. To be honest I kinda got used to the Alphabetical ordering of my start menu after performing such a tweak a number of weeks back. How ever I can confirm that if I reduced the number of entries in the list to 8 items, (default), they do indeed sort as desired. -------------------- That cat's something I can't explain.
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May 16 2005, 18:20
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 Enthusiast Group: Posters Posts: 175 Joined: 2nd September 2004 Member No.: 55,131 Device(s): iPaq hx4700, mpx220 |
QUOTE(ElGato65 @ May 16 2005, 17:27) Thank you, I hadn't figured "too many" might be an issue. To be honest I kinda got used to the Alphabetical ordering of my start menu after performing such a tweak a number of weeks back. How ever I can confirm that if I reduced the number of entries in the list to 8 items, (default), they do indeed sort as desired. the maximum number of shortcuts that you can have listed there is 16. By default you can have 8 short cut if all you want is to reorder the first page. In my test also I have found that Jeyo Personalizer change that key cutting the number of shortcuts to 7 which is an error taking in consideration that there are 8 shorcuts listed in the first page. A version of this hack was included in version 1.2 of Tweaks2k2 (current version is 1.4.0.3) and I said a version of this hack because the goal was not to reorder that menu but give users the possibility of replacing the existents short cut listed with other shortcuts located at \\storage\\windows\\start menu. I hope all this information is in some way usefull. This post has been edited by ctitanic: May 17 2005, 11:40 -------------------- |
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May 17 2005, 09:23
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Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 8 Joined: 4th April 2005 From: Romford, Essex, England Member No.: 121,722 Device(s): MDA Compact II Touch |
Thankyou ctitanic and ElGato65, your answers have been most helpful.
Tichy |
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May 19 2005, 01:20
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#9
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Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 11 Joined: 18th April 2005 Member No.: 124,469 Device(s): o2 xda2s |
cant seem to find this in the registry on a blue angel? any1 got any ideas where it is?
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May 25 2005, 11:47
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#10
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 Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 43 Joined: 21st May 2005 Member No.: 130,593 Device(s): i-mate SP3 |
QUOTE(chucky.egg @ May 16 2005, 11:18) This is a good one. Simple, but oh so useful. For my money the best Start Menu solution is to go into /Storage/Windows/Start Menu and organise your icons into sub-folders. Not a new idea, I know, but maybe something new folks haven't heard before. It takes longer to do, and you need to do it from the PC or with the built-in phone File Manager (because of the read-only flag on the Start Menu items) but you end up with a short Start Menu and logical sub-folders for your apps. I went into /Storage/Windows/Start Menu as you have said, and it showed me 4 folders (Accessories, Configurations, Games, System Management). Do I just create new sub-folders and move icons into it? But where do I find the icons in the start menu? -------------------- • ener'G star-raw —• thfc ‹› 16 bars the superbowl of hiphop
∙∙∙› demonboard ‹∙∙∙ just a little community forum |
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May 25 2005, 12:57
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Did I say that out loud? Group: News Team Posts: 4,514 Joined: 20th August 2003 From: Kent, England Member No.: 13,469 Device(s): Kaiser, Touch |
Yes, the method I was talking about means you have to make new folders (which then appear under Start Menu). You can then move the current icons into the appropriate folders
You can see my setup (as an example - set it up how you like) in the screenshots I posted The easiest way to do the folder creation and the moving of icons is through your PC, but if you can't/don't connect with a PC you can use the built-in File Explorer - you can't use things like SmartExplorer because the Start Menu icons are Hidden and System files |
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May 25 2005, 13:02
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#12
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Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 43 Joined: 21st May 2005 Member No.: 130,593 Device(s): i-mate SP3 |
I got it connected to my PC through usb cable. But I can't find those menu list icons in my smartphone explorer (of my PC). It's hidden somewhere
This post has been edited by energ: May 25 2005, 13:04 -------------------- • ener'G star-raw —• thfc ‹› 16 bars the superbowl of hiphop
∙∙∙› demonboard ‹∙∙∙ just a little community forum |
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May 25 2005, 13:37
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#13
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Did I say that out loud? Group: News Team Posts: 4,514 Joined: 20th August 2003 From: Kent, England Member No.: 13,469 Device(s): Kaiser, Touch |
Through Windows Explorer on your PC you should see "Mobile Device" (or similar) at the same level as your C drive but near the bottom of the list
From there go My Smartphone / Storage / Windows / Start Menu |
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May 25 2005, 13:53
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#14
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Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 43 Joined: 21st May 2005 Member No.: 130,593 Device(s): i-mate SP3 |
Yup I've done that. But there isn't icons like Messaging, Contact, Calendar, Internet Explorer etc.. to move it in my sub-folders.
I really want to achieve my menu list as the two images you attached. I think it's much better than my current long list of applications and stuff. -------------------- • ener'G star-raw —• thfc ‹› 16 bars the superbowl of hiphop
∙∙∙› demonboard ‹∙∙∙ just a little community forum |
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May 25 2005, 14:01
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#15
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Did I say that out loud? Group: News Team Posts: 4,514 Joined: 20th August 2003 From: Kent, England Member No.: 13,469 Device(s): Kaiser, Touch |
Ah, OK. Try setting your folder view options in Windows to "Show hidden files"
It's different between Windows versions, but in XP from your File Explorer window go: Tools - Folder Options - View |
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May 25 2005, 14:06
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#16
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Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 43 Joined: 21st May 2005 Member No.: 130,593 Device(s): i-mate SP3 |
Omg I'm so stupid. I forgot about that typical windows settings. Thank's for the reminder! I got it now. I just registerd a coupla days ago and I'm beging to love this forum. Hey thanks again!
-------------------- • ener'G star-raw —• thfc ‹› 16 bars the superbowl of hiphop
∙∙∙› demonboard ‹∙∙∙ just a little community forum |
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May 25 2005, 14:11
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#17
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Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 43 Joined: 21st May 2005 Member No.: 130,593 Device(s): i-mate SP3 |
Oh crap, it says access denied. Won't give me permission to move the shortcut icons to the sub-folders.
-------------------- • ener'G star-raw —• thfc ‹› 16 bars the superbowl of hiphop
∙∙∙› demonboard ‹∙∙∙ just a little community forum |
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May 25 2005, 14:24
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#18
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Did I say that out loud? Group: News Team Posts: 4,514 Joined: 20th August 2003 From: Kent, England Member No.: 13,469 Device(s): Kaiser, Touch |
Try it on your phone.
My phone is "Application Unlocked" which might have some effect on this (but none that I know of). The built-in icons move fine for me, but maybe look at that later, once your menu is sorted out |
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May 25 2005, 14:53
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#19
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Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 43 Joined: 21st May 2005 Member No.: 130,593 Device(s): i-mate SP3 |
Oh I see. I got the jist of it. Hey thanks so much!
-------------------- • ener'G star-raw —• thfc ‹› 16 bars the superbowl of hiphop
∙∙∙› demonboard ‹∙∙∙ just a little community forum |
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May 25 2005, 18:49
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#20
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Addict  Group: Banned Posts: 506 Joined: 12th February 2005 From: Panama Member No.: 110,270 Device(s): SMT 5600, HP iPAQ 4150 |
QUOTE(dh @ May 16 2005, 04:05) To make life even easier I use Jeyo Personalizer which has an option under Programs to change Program (Start Menu) Order. You can only change the order of the first seven programs I think, don't know if this is the phone of Jeyo Personalizer. I use that also, 2 bad it cant sort more than the first 7 |
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