Datasheet

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CHAPTER 3
■
MANAGING THE WINDOWS DESKTOP
You can customize either menu
by clicking the Customize button.
Most of the settings differ between
the standard and classic menus;
those that occur on both, such as
Display the Run command, are not
persistent between the dialog boxes,
so if you change a setting in one it
will “mysteriously” change when you
switch between them.
The Start menu’s basic cus-
tomization (see Figure 3.13)
includes viewing large or small
icons in the menu, setting the num-
ber of most-recently-used (MRU)
applications visible in the menu,
and choosing which Internet and
e-mail applications to “pin” to the
upper left section of the Start
menu. There is also a button that
clears the MRU area so you can get
rid of menu clutter.
Now click the Advanced tab.
This dialog box (see Figure 3.14)
lets you change what items are
visible and how the Start menu
behaves. Some of the more annoy-
ing features you can turn off, including the “Open submenus” and “Highlight
new programs” options. You can also configure whether some of the common
menu options, like the Control Panel, open up a new window (link) or list all
the window’s contents (menu). If you want to work with the more advanced
options of Windows XP, you need to make the Administrator Tools visible.
Although it’s understandable why Microsoft wouldn’t want just anyone pok-
ing around in there, it’s one of the rare cases where something should be
enabled by default, not hidden by default.
Figure 3.12. If you long for the days of Windows
2000, Windows XP lets you quickly switch back to
its look.
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