Customizing What Appears on the Right Side of the Start Menu

by Barry Dysert
(last updated May 23, 2016)

The Start menu can be customized as to what appears on the right side, whether items are displayed as links or menus, and how submenus behave when you hover over them.

To customize the Start Menu, right-click the Start button and click Properties. Windows displays the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box; the Start Menu tab should be displayed by default. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Start Menu tab of the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.

Click the Customize button, and Windows displays the Customize Start Menu dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Customize Start Menu dialog box.

You'll want to scroll down in the Customize Start Menu dialog box to see the extent of the changes that are possible. As you can see, you can indicate whether a particular item is shown on the menu by selecting or de-selecting the "Don't display this item" radio button. And for items that are displayed, you can indicate whether they should be displayed as a link (where if you simply hover over the link it will expand to reveal its contents) or as a menu (that you'd have to click to see more).

With some trial and error you'll be able to determine what items you really want displayed, and how you want them to behave. When you're finished customizing, OK your way out. Your new Start menu will be waiting for you.

 This tip (11562) applies to Windows 7.

Author Bio

Barry Dysert

Barry has been a computer professional for over 30 years, working in different positions such as technical team leader, project manager, and software developer.  He is currently a senior software engineer with an emphasis on developing custom applications under Microsoft Windows. ...

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