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How to clear out the Start Menu in Vista

I don't know about you but there are many things in Vista that, in my opinion, just aren't quite right. I know that this is pretty minor in the grand scheme fo things but it bugs me none the less. The "All Programs" menu has WAY too many icons in it so I decided to remove the ones that are irrelevant to me.

There are 2 ways to do this... The fast way and the complete way.

First I'll touch on the fast way.
  1. Go to the Control Panel and choose "Folder Options".
  2. Click on the "View" tab and look for "Show hidden files and folders". Click the button next to it then close that window as well as the Control Panel. Click here for an example image.
  3. Now navigate to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" and start deleting any icons that you aren't interested in.
  4. Be sure not to remove any programs or folders that you may want to be there later.
  5. Some of the extraneous icons aren't listed there so you may still have to do the complete way. But this way you can remove many more much faster than the other way.
Now it's time for the complete way.
  1. Click on the "Start" menu and then click on "All Programs".
  2. Right-click on any of the unnecessary icons and choose delete.
  3. A pop-up will ask you to confirm the deletion. Click yes.
Pretty simple huh? I thought so too.
Tim

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