How to Customize a Start Menu in Registry

Your computer offers you a variety of customization options so that you can tweak your computer to best suit your user needs and preferences. A variety of ways exist to customize your computer as well, including through the computer's menus and through its Registry Editor. Most people at least like to customize their Start menus, and you can easily do so through your computer's options menu, but if you would like to make an even more customized or advanced change, you will need to access the Registry Editor. If you wish to customize a Start menu through the Registry Editor, you can do so with the appropriate process.

Things You'll Need

Registry Editor

Step 1

Open the Registry Editor. Click on "Start," click on "Run" and input "regedit.exe" into the "Run" text box and press "Enter." For Windows Vista or 7, click on "Start" and input "regedit.exe" into the text box located on the Start menu before pressing "Enter."

Step 2

Navigate to the following location within the Registry Editor: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced. Navigate to through the folders within the Registry Editor just as you would navigate through folders in any window. Simply click on a folder and then keep clicking in the subfolders that appear until you reach your desired location.

Step 3

Customize the Start menu by assigning a different dword value to a Start menu key. (A key is simply one of the selections within the right pane of the Registry Editor window.) Right-click on a key, and select "Modify" to modify the key. Input the dword value you wish to assign the key, and press "OK" to save your changes. Note that to customize a Start menu in Registry Editor, you must look up the appropriate dword value to input in order for you to get the desired results.

Tips

You can also modify a key by clicking on it to select it, and then clicking on "Edit" from the menu bar at the top of the Registry Editor window and then clicking "Modify."

Warnings

Beware of making a mistake in the Registry Editor, for you could damage or corrupt your keys, which could harm your computer.