Replace My Music And My Pictures In Windows Startmenu

The Windows XP Startmenu is divided into a left and right part. The left part can display personal folders and files while the right part system folders like My Documents, My Music or My Pictures that appear to be hard coded which means that they appear to be permanent there without options to edit them.

Windows provides options to disable the folders from being displayed in the Startmenu but there is no way to add custom folders or files to the right pane.

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 one or multiple of 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 shows 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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