Start Menu and Taskbar Policies

Table shows a list of all the group policies that will help you customize the Start menu and the taskbar.

Group Policy Settings to Configure the Start Menu and Taskbar

Policy	Description
Add Search Internet link to Start menu	Allows you to search the Internet from the Start menu.
Clear history of recently opened documents on exit	Purges document history at logoff.
Clear the recent programs list for new users	Purges program history at logoff.
Add logoff to the Start menu	Controls the logoff option in the classic Start menu and Start menu.
Gray unavailable Windows Installer programs Start menu shortcuts	Provides users with a visual notification of applications that are not available
Turn off personalized menus	Disables the feature that hides uncommonly run programs from the classic Start menu.
Lock the taskbar	Controls the locking state of the taskbar. A locked taskbar does not allow any changes to be made to it.
Add "Run in Separate Memory Space" check box to Run dialog box	Adds an additional setting for running programs with the Run box. I recommend enabling this setting.
Turn off notification area cleanup	Disables the ability to hide icons.
Remove Balloon Tips on Start menu items	Disables pop-up information when hovering over items in the Start menu.
Remove drag-and-drop and context menus on the Start menu	Disables the ability to use the drag-anddrop functionality in the Start menu.
Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands	Disables the user's ability to change the state of the machine. Useful for public computers.
Remove common program groups from Start menu	Allows only user-specific applications to appear in the Start menu.
Remove Favorites menu from Start menu	Hides Favorites shortcut.
Remove Search link from Start menu	Hides Search shortcut.
Remove frequent programs list from Start menu	Hides Frequently Run Programs list.
Remove Games link from Start menu	Hides Games shortcut.
Remove Help menu from Start menu	Hides Help shortcut.
Turn off user tracking	Disables all tracking of user programs and documents.
Remove All Programs list from Start menu	Removes the ability to search through the main part of the Start menu, All Programs.
Remove Network Connections from Start menu	Hides the Network Connection shortcut.
Remove pinned programs list from Start menu	Disables the ability to pin applications.
Do not keep history of recently opened documents	Disables the tracking of opening documents.
Remove Recent Items menu from Start menu	Hides the Recent Items shortcut.
Do not use the search-based method when resolving shell shortcuts	Disables the ability to search the computer when a shortcut is broken.
Do not use the tracking-based method when resolving shell shortcuts	Disables the ability to use NTFS tracking to try to fix a broken shortcut.
Remove Run menu from Start menu	Hides the Run shortcut.
Remove Default Programs link from Start menu	Hides Default Programs shortcut.
Remove Documents icon from Start menu	Hides Documents shortcut.
Remove Music icon from Start menu	Hides Music shortcut.
Remove Network icon from Start menu	Hides Network shortcut.
Remove Pictures icon from Start menu	Hides Pictures shortcut.
Do not search communications	Disables the ability to search e-mails from the Start menu search box.
Remove Search Computer link	Hides Search shortcut.
Remove See More Results/Search Everywhere link	Allows you to expand the Start menu search results.
Do not search files	Disables the ability to search for files that are in indexed locations from within the Start menu.
Do not search the Internet	Disables the ability to search the Internet from the Start menu.
Do not search programs and Control Panel items	Disables the ability to search the Start menu from the Start menu Search box. This will not make the Search box go away.
Remove programs on Settings menu	Prevents various settings' components from running, such as Control Panel and Network Connections.
Prevent changes to taskbar and Start menu settings Remove Downloads link from Start menu	Locks taskbar and Start menu settings. Hides Downloads link.
Remove Homegroup link from Start menu	Hides Homegroup link.
Remove Recorded TV link from Start menu	Hides Recorded TV link.
Remove user's folders from Start menu	Hides user folders.
Remove Videos link from Start menu	Hides Videos link.
Force classic Start menu	Disables the new Start menu and uses the Windows 2000-style Start menu instead.
Remove Clock from system notification area	Hides the clock.
Prevent grouping of taskbar items	Disables application grouping on the taskbar.
Do not display any custom toolbars in the taskbar	Disables third-party taskbars or user-made toolbars.
Remove access to the context menus for the taskbar	Disables capacity to right-click the toolbars in the taskbar.
Hide the notification area	Disables the entire notification area (system tray).
Remove user folder link from Start menu	Hides the User Folder shortcuts
Remove username from Start menu	Hides the username from appearing on the Start menu.
Remove links and access to Windows Update	Hides the shortcuts to Windows Update.
Change Start menu power button	Allows you to change what the power button on the Start menu does. E.g. Shutdown/Hibernate/Sleep.
Show Quick Launch on taskbar	Enables the Quick Launch toolbar.
Remove the "Undock PC" button from Start menu	Hides the shortcut for undocking a laptop.
Add the Run command to Start menu	Provides the Run command on both the Start menu and the classic Start menu.
Remove Logoff on Start menu	Hides Logoff shortcut.
Remove the Action Center icon	Hides the Action Center icon in the Notification area.
Remove networking icon	Hides networking icon in the Notification area.
Remove battery meter	Hides power icon in the Notification area.
Remove volume control icon	Hides volume icon in the Notification area.
Turn off feature advertisement balloon notifications	Disables pop-up help about features.
Do not allow pinning items in Jump Lists	Disables adding items to Jump Lists.
Do not allow pinning programs to the taskbar	Disables adding applications to the taskbar.
Do not display or track items in Jump Lists from remote locations	Prevents recent documents from network shares from showing up in Jump Lists.
Turn off automatic promotion of notification icons to taskbar	Disables temporarily adding new Notification area icons to the Notification area before moving to overflow container.
Lock all taskbar settings	Locks the taskbar.
Prevent users from adding or removing toolbars	Disables the ability to add toolbars.
Prevent users from rearranging toolbars	Locks in the position of your toolbars (similar to locking the taskbar).
Turn off all balloon notifications	Disables pop-up help.
Remove pinned programs from taskbar	Disables and removes pinned applications on the taskbar.
Prevent users from moving taskbar to another screen dock location	Locks the position of your taskbar.
Prevent users from resizing taskbar	Locks the size of your taskbar.
Turn off taskbar thumbnails	Disables the application thumbnails that are shown when you move your cursor over taskbar items when running Aero Glass.

As you can see, there are dozens of useful group policies that will help you customize your desktop more than any other method. Additionally, these policies can be used in a domain policy that governs all Windows 7 computers connected to a domain.

[Previous] [Contents]

Start Menu and Taskbar Policies

Group Policy Settings to Configure the Start Menu and Taskbar

In this tutorial: