Customizing the Frequently Run Programs list

Every time you launch an application on your PC, Windows is watching. It keeps track of the applications you run to derive the list of frequently run programs. You can find the list of frequently run programs on the left side of the Start panel.


This program list can be useful for quickly accessing your applications instead of navigating through the entire All Programs menu.

There are a few cool tweaks for the Frequently Run Programs list that will allow you to customize it to make it more useful for you. The next three sections show you how you can modify the icon size, change the number shown, hide applications from showing up, and pin applications to the list.

Customizing icon size
One way that I like to customize my Start panel is to decrease the size of the icons on the left so that I can fit more icons on the screen. Figure 2-3 shows the difference between a Start panel that has been switched to use small icons and the normal Start panel.

Changing the icons is easy. You just need to change one setting within the Start menu properties. To do so, follow these steps:

Move your mouse cursor over the Start button and right-click it, and then click Properties.

This brings up the Start Menu Properties menu that you used in the preceding section. Here you want to click the Customize button.

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the list and uncheck Use large icons.

Click OK to save your change and click OK once more to finish.

You have now made some more room so that you can display more frequently run programs on the Start panel. When you click the Start menu, you may notice that there are not any more programs showing up. That is because you also have to adjust the number of programs that will appear. The next section shows you how to adjust how many program shortcuts are displayed.

Tweaking the number displayed
By now you have changed the icon size of the Frequently Run Programs list so that you can fit more icons on the screen. Now you can increase the number of programs that will be displayed so that your list of programs will become even more useful. If you decide that you do not want to change the size of the icons, don't worry. You can still change the number of programs that display; you just can't display as many.

Changing the number of programs depends completely on personal preference. Do you like having a huge Start panel that stretches from the taskbar to the top of the screen? Do you like a Start panel with a small footprint? By design, the Start panel cannot contain more than 30 programs on the list. Very few users can display 30 items simultaneously because they must have their screen resolution set at a minimum 1280 × 1024, assuming that they are using the small icons. That high resolution is usually used only by owners of screens larger than 18 inches. The most common computer screen resolution is 1024 × 768. At that resolution, 22 programs can fit on the Start panel when the small icons are used. If you have an older computer or just a small display and your screen resolution is set for 800 × 600, you will be able to display only 15 programs on your Frequently Run Programs list.

The resolution settings of your screen determine the maximum number of programs that can be displayed. If you accidentally choose too many programs, Windows will let you know by giving you a friendly pop-up message when you try to click your Start menu after the change.

Now that you have an idea of the number of programs that your computer can display, you are ready to get started. To increase the number of programs, do the following:

Right-click the Start button and select Properties to bring up the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties settings.

Click the Customize button to show the Customize Start Menu options.

On this screen, locate the Start Menu Size section and the Number of recent programs to display box. You can adjust this value by clicking the up and down buttons or just by selecting all the text and entering a new number.

Tip If you want to save even more room and never use the Internet Explorer and Mail client links on the top of the Frequently Run Programs list, clear all the boxes in the Show on Start menu box on the Customize Start Menu window.


After you have entered the number of programs you want displayed, click OK to save your changes.

Click OK once more and you are finished.

The best way to set the number of programs is to experiment with several different values until you get your Start panel looking the way you want it. After you find the value that is just right, you will have a much-improved Start panel.

Keeping programs off the list
Say you have a top-secret program that you do not want anyone else to know you have. Every time you run a program on your computer, Windows Vista records it and places the shortcut on your Frequently Run Programs list. Sometimes this is not always a good thing and can cause a privacy or job-security problem.

For example, let's use the situation of a guy named Larry. Larry is a big fan of Purble Place in Windows Vista. It is not the best game, but he likes it because it is an alternative to actually doing work. Every time Larry plays Purble Place, Windows Vista automatically adds the game to the Frequently Run Programs list. In this situation, program tracking creates a big problem for Larry. He is concerned that one of his fellow employees might see his Frequently Run Programs list and ridicule him for playing a children's game or report him to management for not doing work. What should he do? First, Larry should buy a copy of Hacking Windows Vista, and then he should follow these steps:

Click the Start menu and select Run. Type regedit and click OK to start the Registry Editor.

Expand the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder.

Search through the list of folders until you find the folder called Applications and expand that, too.

Now you will see a list of every executable file for the programs installed on your computer. To hide a program from the Frequently Run Programs list, expand the folder that is the executable for the program. To hide Purble Place, expand the PurblePlace.exe folder.

Tip If you do not know the name of the executable file that a program shortcut points to, you can easily look this up by right-clicking the shortcut and selecting Properties. In the Properties box, you will see a full path to where the file is located and the name of the file. When you right-click the shortcut in the Start menu for Purble Place, you will discover that the name of the executable for the game is PurblePlace.exe.


Can't find a folder called PurblePlace.exe? That is because some Windows applications are not listed. If your application is listed, skip this step. Otherwise, you need to create a new Registry key. To do so, select the Applications key within HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Right-click and select New, and then select Key. Type in the name of the executable for the name of the key. For Purble Place, name the key PurblePlace.exe.

Now that you have found the folder for the application or have created one, expand it so that you can see all its values. Then right-click your executable's folder that you just created or found in the Registry. Select New, and then select String. Type NoStartPage as the name of the string variable, as shown in Figure


Close the Registry Editor and log off and then back in. You will never see Purble Place in your Frequently Run Programs list again.

Now Larry can play as much Purble Place at work as he wants without having to worry about it showing up in his Frequently Run Programs list.

Pinning programs
I use the Calculator application all the time when I am using my computer. My desk calculator is always lost, and I don't want to waste time looking for it when I just need to do a quick calculation. Every time that I want to use the Calculator application, I have to click the Start menu, select All Programs, and then navigate up through the Accessories menu until I finally can click the Calculator app. There is a much better way that I can access this program.

Instead of navigating through the program listings, I can just pin the program to the Start panel. Pinning a program is a simple task that allows the program that you pin to appear on the Start panel just above the Frequently Run Programs list. If you pin a program shortcut, it appears just below the Internet Explorer and e-mail icons in the Start panel.

Navigating through the entire Start menu to launch a program you use all the time is a waste of time. Why waste your time? Pin your most commonly used programs today!

Are you excited yet? No? Okay, well let's get started anyway:

Start your pinning adventure by navigating through the Start menu as you normally do to launch a program. Navigate to a program that you use all the time, such as the Calculator application in the Accessories menu.

After you have highlighted the item, right-click the item and select Pin to Start menu. That's it. Your program will now appear directly on the Start panel.

Now let's say that you got a little too excited and pinned too many applications and want to remove some. What should you do? Just click the Start button once more to bring up the Start menu and highlight the program you want to unpin from the Start panel. Next, just right-click the item and select Unpin from Start Menu.

Pinning your favorite programs is a simple solution to speeding up your access to your programs.