Problems with Vista's Start Menu

newparad1gm · 02-05-08, 06:59 PM

My friend's been having a strange issue with his Windows Vista start menu. In his pinned icons, there are three blank entries at the end that he can't seem to get rid of. It first started off as one blank entry, but then became two and then eventually three at seemingly random points. Its not the right side panel of the Start menu thats making it larger either, as he has very few items there, as seen in the screen shot. He's tried to include recent documents and clear out the start menu as well, but the blank entries continue to persist. Here is the screen shot:

Help would be much appreciated.

dxx · 02-05-08, 08:53 PM

The menu on the left is meant to list recently run programs, and the height is manually set. My guess is that he's set it to list more programs than Windows thinks he uses on a regular basis, hence why it's left some blank spaces.

Trick to shortening it is to right-click the task bar, click Properties, click the Start Menu tab, click the Customize button, and, where it says "Number of recent programs to display", knock it down by two or three. Hit OK a couple of times, and things should look nice and snug again.

**crainger** · 02-05-08, 08:59 PM

Yep. dxx is right. :

:

First thing I do on a new install. I hate long Startbars. A short one does wonders for my penis envy. Wait! What?

Phyre · 02-05-08, 10:00 PM

In the same Start Menu customize area mentioned above, you can uncheck Use Large Icons as well. That will make the Start Menu a bit smaller as well.

newparad1gm · 02-07-08, 12:41 PM

Unfortunately, he has no Recently Used Programs part of the start menu (his number of recently used apps to display is set to zero). All those icons you see are pinned icons (when you right-click on a shortcut and there is an option that says Pin to Start Menu). If he increases the number of Recently Used Programs, the blank spaces just appear below those icons as well. Also he's tried removing all pinned icons and just leaving recently used programs, but the spaces remain.

baggy111 · 05-03-09, 01:46 PM

Hello. I had the same problem and have managed to figure it out.

Basically your friend has got too many programs pinned to the start menu. To solve the problem reduce the number of frequently used programs to a minimum and if possible, unpin any programs.
Baggy 111

einstein_314 · 05-03-09, 04:27 PM

Haha, so if you start pinning too many programs it starts adding blank spaces? that's a weird bug.....

02-05-08, 06:59 PM	#1
newparad1gm Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 690	Problems with Vista's Start Menu My friend's been having a strange issue with his Windows Vista start menu. In his pinned icons, there are three blank entries at the end that he can't seem to get rid of. It first started off as one blank entry, but then became two and then eventually three at seemingly random points. Its not the right side panel of the Start menu thats making it larger either, as he has very few items there, as seen in the screen shot. He's tried to include recent documents and clear out the start menu as well, but the blank entries continue to persist. Here is the screen shot: Help would be much appreciated. __________________ WAR MACHINE: Intel Core i7 3930K \| Asus X79 Sabertooth \| 4x4 GB G.Skill RipJaw PC3-12800 \| 2x EVGA NVIDIA GTX TITAN Signature 6GB SLI \| OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD \| 2x500 GB Seagate Barracuda RAID 0 \| Seagate FreeAgent 500GB External \| LG BD-ROM \| Cyber Acoustics CA3001WB 2.1 Speakers \| ABS SL 1050W PSU \| 3x Acer GD235HZ 23.6in 120Hz \| Silverstone Fortress FT02 \| Windows 8 Pro x64 \| NVIDIA 3DVision SURROUND CRIMSON DYNAMO: Intel Core i7 2600K \| Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H \| 2x4 GB G.Skill Ripjaw PC3-12800 \| XFX AMD HD7970 3GB \| Intel X-25M G2 160GB SSD \| 2x250GB RAID 0 \| Samsung BD-ROM \| Corsair TX 850W PSU \| Toshiba 42" REGZA 1080p HDTV \| Antec 900 ATX \| Windows 8 Pro x64 Sailor Jupiter (HTPC): Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 \| ZOTAC Geforce 9300 \| 2x2 GB OCZ Fatal1ty PC2-8500 \| WD 1TB \| Hitachi 2TB External \| MediaSonic HFR2-SU3S2 6x3TB Seagate Barracuda RAID 1+0 \| LG Blu-Ray/HD DVD-ROM \| FSP 150W PSU \| Toshiba 42" REGZA 1080p HDTV \| Foxconn RS233 mini-ITX \| Windows 7 Pro x86

02-05-08, 08:53 PM	#2
dxx Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 490	Re: Problems with Vista's Start Menu The menu on the left is meant to list recently run programs, and the height is manually set. My guess is that he's set it to list more programs than Windows thinks he uses on a regular basis, hence why it's left some blank spaces. Trick to shortening it is to right-click the task bar, click Properties, click the Start Menu tab, click the Customize button, and, where it says "Number of recent programs to display", knock it down by two or three. Hit OK a couple of times, and things should look nice and snug again.

02-05-08, 08:59 PM	#3
crainger Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia Posts: 29,535	Re: Problems with Vista's Start Menu Yep. dxx is right. :: First thing I do on a new install. I hate long Startbars. A short one does wonders for my penis envy. Wait! What?

02-05-08, 10:00 PM	#4
Phyre Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Central Louisiana Posts: 323	Re: Problems with Vista's Start Menu In the same Start Menu customize area mentioned above, you can uncheck Use Large Icons as well. That will make the Start Menu a bit smaller as well.

02-07-08, 12:41 PM	#5
newparad1gm Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 690	Re: Problems with Vista's Start Menu Unfortunately, he has no Recently Used Programs part of the start menu (his number of recently used apps to display is set to zero). All those icons you see are pinned icons (when you right-click on a shortcut and there is an option that says Pin to Start Menu). If he increases the number of Recently Used Programs, the blank spaces just appear below those icons as well. Also he's tried removing all pinned icons and just leaving recently used programs, but the spaces remain. __________________ WAR MACHINE: Intel Core i7 3930K \| Asus X79 Sabertooth \| 4x4 GB G.Skill RipJaw PC3-12800 \| 2x EVGA NVIDIA GTX TITAN Signature 6GB SLI \| OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD \| 2x500 GB Seagate Barracuda RAID 0 \| Seagate FreeAgent 500GB External \| LG BD-ROM \| Cyber Acoustics CA3001WB 2.1 Speakers \| ABS SL 1050W PSU \| 3x Acer GD235HZ 23.6in 120Hz \| Silverstone Fortress FT02 \| Windows 8 Pro x64 \| NVIDIA 3DVision SURROUND CRIMSON DYNAMO: Intel Core i7 2600K \| Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H \| 2x4 GB G.Skill Ripjaw PC3-12800 \| XFX AMD HD7970 3GB \| Intel X-25M G2 160GB SSD \| 2x250GB RAID 0 \| Samsung BD-ROM \| Corsair TX 850W PSU \| Toshiba 42" REGZA 1080p HDTV \| Antec 900 ATX \| Windows 8 Pro x64 Sailor Jupiter (HTPC): Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 \| ZOTAC Geforce 9300 \| 2x2 GB OCZ Fatal1ty PC2-8500 \| WD 1TB \| Hitachi 2TB External \| MediaSonic HFR2-SU3S2 6x3TB Seagate Barracuda RAID 1+0 \| LG Blu-Ray/HD DVD-ROM \| FSP 150W PSU \| Toshiba 42" REGZA 1080p HDTV \| Foxconn RS233 mini-ITX \| Windows 7 Pro x86

05-03-09, 01:46 PM	#6
baggy111 Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 1	Re: Problems with Vista's Start Menu Hello. I had the same problem and have managed to figure it out. Basically your friend has got too many programs pinned to the start menu. To solve the problem reduce the number of frequently used programs to a minimum and if possible, unpin any programs. Baggy 111

05-03-09, 04:27 PM	#7
einstein_314 w00t!! Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Victoria, BC Posts: 2,905	Re: Problems with Vista's Start Menu Haha, so if you start pinning too many programs it starts adding blank spaces? that's a weird bug..... __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2GHz (9 x 355) w/ Swiftec APOGEE GTX Waterblock\|\| Asus P5B-Deluxe WiFi Edition eVGA 8800 GTX Superclocked Edition @ 675/1150 w/ DangerDen 8800GTX Waterblock\|\| 4x1GB Mushkin XP2 PC2-8500 X-Fi Fatal1ty 64MB \|\| PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W \|\| Seagate 7200.10 320 GB \|\| Dell 2407WFP Logitech Z-5300 Speakers \|\| Sennheiser HD555's \|\| Logitech G7 \|\| Logitech G15 \|\| Windows Vista Ultimate x64

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