Stop wasting space on my Start menu, Cisco VPN.

November 13, 2012 9:24 AM

How do I exempt certain programs from appearing in my Start menu's "recently used programs" list?

I really hope this is doable. It's been driving me nuts. I'm using Windows 7 if it matters.

I love two features of the Start menu: Store and display recently opened programs and Store and display recently opened items. I really don't want to turn these features off. What I want is to create exceptions for certain programs.

For example, I use IrfanView every single day about a zillion times a day, so it shows up pretty high on my Start menu list, but I never start it from there. I start it by doubleclicking files directly, so it's a waste of space on my Start menu. Same thing with the program I use to print to my plotter. It shows up in the Start menu because I print all the time, but I access it via the system tray thingy that starts up with Windows.

Can I stop certain programs from appearing in my Start menu while still allowing others? The only workaround I have found is to pin all my programs that I want in there and then disable Windows from storing recently used programs. There must be a better way. I can't install any third party software because it's a company PC.

posted by Sternmeyer to computers & internet (4 answers total)

Can't you just right click it in that list and select the option "Remove from this list" or something? Or does it still keep coming back eventually?
posted by Grither at 9:27 AM on November 13, 2012

Or does it still keep coming back eventually?
Not just eventually, it comes back the very next time I use the removed program, and at the same position.
posted by Sternmeyer at 9:31 AM on November 13, 2012

Sorry, but I'm pretty sure it's either 'trust Windows to manage your recent apps entirely' or 'don't allow Windows to manage them at all'. The granular control you seek would be nice but it isn't implemented natively and I have not found a hack for it. And I've looked, hoping for the same result.

I think you're stuck with disabling the recents list and just pinning what you really use instead.
posted by BlackPebble at 10:20 AM on November 13, 2012

I have two suggestions which will probably not help.

I remember experiencing a similar problem in earlier versions of windows. There was a separate area above the automatically controlled list where you could put your own favorite applications, and I did. Then they were there but weren't taking up the space of the automatically controlled list. I'm not even sure if windows 7 has such a feature.

You could try creating a new shortcut for your much-used application. It's possible windows manages the frequency based on the individual shortcut (maybe give it a slightly different name) and not the underlying application. If so, you could use it until it became 'popular' and then delete it and create a new shortcut.
posted by Phredward at 4:53 AM on November 14, 2012