There is however a direct way to rename those icons – and many more – by using the Windows Registry instead with the added advantage that you do not have to run another software on the system.

To rename the system icons start the Windows Registry editor with [Windows R], typing regedit and hitting enter. The Registry path in question is HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \ShellNoRoam \MUICache.

You find many entries under that Registry path and need to scroll down a bit until you find the desired names. The Data column lists the current name of the entry.

To change an entry simply double-click it and change the Value Data to something else. Changes take effect after rebooting, logging off / on or killing explorer.exe.

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Many users on the other hand are not using those folders and would like to replace them with folders that they use regularly. To remove the default folders a user would have to right-click on a blank space of the Windows Startmenu and select Properties. This opens a new window that is displaying a Customize button in the middle.

A click on that button opens another window with two tabs. Clicking on the Advanced tab finally leads to the place where the settings for that part of the Startmenu can be changed. The options are to display the item as a link, as a menu or to not display the item at all.

The above image is showing the default Windows Startmenu. Only the entries on the left have been edited while the items on the right show the default system folders.

Kelly’s Korner has posted two vbs scripts that replace the My Pictures and My Music folder with custom folders selected by the user.

Both scripts perform the same operation. They ask the user for a new folder that he wants to show on the right side of the Windows Startmenu. The custom folder replaces the My Music or My Pictures link that is usually shown there.

This means that it is possible to add at least two custom folders to the right pane of the Windows Startmenu. There is another option that might appeal to users as well. It is possible to display the Favorites folder in there as well.

Moving files and folders to the favorite folder would display them in there as well if the user chooses to display the folder as a menu. The favorites folder can be enabled in the in the same settings where the other Startmenu entries can be enabled and disabled.

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It works on Desktop, Favorites, My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, Send To, Shared Documents, Shared Music, Shared Pictures, Shared Video, Start Menu, Startup, Temporary Internet Files, Common Startup and Common Desktop. I can think of two occurrences where relocating such folders would be a good idea. The first one would be if your c: drive does not have that much space and you want to remove everything that reduces space on that drive.

A second option would be if you dislike the default folder structure, why did they add Documents and Settings to the root folder of the windows partition ?

Back to the tool itself, as I said it is very easy to use. You pick the folder that you want to move to a new location and browse to that new location afterwards. (or type it in manually) Once done you click apply and the path will be changed. The 17K tool even features a backup routine to backup the files if you want to be on the safe side before moving them.

The restore default option turns everything back to the way it was at the beginning.

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