Taking it one step more as I have done. Move the folder (mine's called
Frequent) with all your shortcuts to My Doc or somewhere. Then make a
shortcut to the folder on your taskbar (right click ->Toolbars ->New
Toolbar..). This gives you single click access to the folder without
having to go back to the desktop.

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 03:31:39 -0800, John Corliss

Love the "Fisher-Price" reference.  <g>

My root start menu (above the divider) is:

CD-DVD
Games
Graphics
Internet
Media
Productivity
Secure
Snap Folders (see http://www.proffs.nu/snap.htm )
Toys
Utilities

Each has nested subfolders organized in ways that make sense to me and
the way I work.

I only have 8 shortcuts on the desktop.  Three are exclusively for my
wife's use.

I have onlt 5 icons on my Quick Launch bar: Agent, IE7, PopSel
(program launcher), Windows Explorer and Show desktop.

Only 5 icons are visible in the system tray, one being Tray Wizard as
another launcher/existing icons manager/right-click minimize to tray
tool.

That type of setup gives me almost instant acces to any one of several
hundred often-used programs with minimal effort, yet leaves a very
clean look to the desktop.

I don't have as much control with my work laptop due to the IT Nazis,
but I customize it as best I can, and I get a kick out of watching
some of my coworkers expressions when they see me access obscure
programs or data in just a couple of seconds time. <g>

--
Ron M.
(I filter Googlespam)

On Feb 18, 5:40 am, miskairal <miskai...@-delete-gmail.com> wrote:

Yes, that is a good way, I do it this way as I prefer to see a full
screen to my 133 shortcut folders.

Locate the desktop folder in Windows Explorer ( in XP it is in
Documents and Settings ) Right click on the folder ( whatever you
named it ) with your shortcuts in & click on > Send To > Desktop
( create shortcut ) Now drag that shortcut folder onto the Quick
Launch bar.

To make that shortcut or any other shortcut open in full screen.
Right click on the shortcut and select Properties.
At the bottom of the screen in the box titled "Run:" select
"Maximized" and click on Apply & Ok.

http://kb.iu.edu/data/anbo.html
http://www.coolnerds.com/XP/QuickLaunch/xpQuickLaunch.htm

You're fucked.

BearWare
--
See Brenda's UniWorldWare
http://tinyurl.com/nm2yt

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:59:35 -0600, Krazee Brenda  

The program works like a charm.

It installs to your "C:\Documents and Settings\name\Local  
Settings\Application Data\HumanizedEnso\Enso.exe"

It also puts a start icon in your start/program menu. It runs in your  
system tray on install.

It is in the add/remove programs control panel as Humanized Enso for easy  
uninstall.

Both of you must be daft :)

--
Bear Bottoms
Freeware Website http://bearware.info

I have a total of 31 on my desktop. What I've got there has evolved over
many years. Doesn't seem to slow down my system any. And I don't arrange
them along the left side the way MS wants to force us, I prefer to have
them arranged along the top from left to right. After all, that's the
way I read text.

I have only two shortcuts in my Quick Launch menu, one for rebooting and
another for shutting down the system. To the left of them though, is the
SmartStartMenu toolbar, adjusted to a reasonable width.

I have six:

1. Iconoid
2. Volume
3. Kensington Mouse (an *old* mouse driver that I prefer)
4. NewsProxy
5. NVidia settings
6. Kerio

Don't use any tray tools. Try to avoid the tray as much as possible.

It always amazes me how few people use or even know about something as
simple as, say, shortcut keystroke combinations. Yep, I also amaze
people with how fast I make things happen on a computer. I posted a
screen shot of my desktop over in alt.binaries.freeware in case you're
interested.

Man, that newsgroup has turned into a hellhole of cracks and other such
garbage. Exactly what would happen to this group if nobody ever objected
to OT posts.

--
John Corliss BS206. I use nFilter to block all crossposts, everything
from troublemakers like Andy Mabbett, Bear Bottoms, gavin, hummingbird,
Kayman and proteanthread, and all Google Groups posts because of
Googlespam. No ad, cd, commercial, cripple, demo, dotnet, nag, share,
spy, time-limited, trial or web wares OR warez for me, please.

Sorry Richard, but I don't "love" any program (except maybe Doomsday, a
freeware overlay to ID's Doom game, indicating a lack on my part)  80)>

Total Uninstall 2.35 (other than a descrete link to info about version
3, is free to use) is still available here:

   http://digilander.libero.it/molearchive3/tun235.zip

The author hasn't had that link taken down but I don't know if he's
aware of its existence or not. Maybe Susan knows.

Then there's ZSoft Uninstaller which is very similar from a
functionality viewpoint to TU:

   http://www.zsoft.dk/index.php?goto=software_details&prog_id=4

Snapfiles has a writeup of ZSoft which includes some Pros and Cons of
that I hadn't been aware of:

   http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/ZSoft-Uninstaller/zsoft-uninstaller....

"Pros: Keeps track of changes made during software installations;
comletely remove software installations; hide entries from the uninstall
list

Cons: Requires some technical expertise; uninstall list cannot be
sorted; tracked changes difficult to read from a text log"

However to be truthful, I've always thought that TU's UI was a little
difficult to get used to and never liked it's lack of a way to access a
help file. In fact, IIRC, I had to obtain the help file separately and
it's kind of dated but served my needs.

Most likely, the author (Gavrila Martau) dealt with these issues in the
newer payware versions but of course that doesn't do me any good since I
won't pay $30 for such a program as well as keep having to pay for each
major release. But I digress...

Frankly, I don't see why the need for such a program has to exist. There
is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why every single program made to run in Windows,
any version, should not be capable of being *completely*, note that I
say COMPLETELY, removed by simply clicking a button in the "Add or
Remove Programs" Control Panel module.

Microsoft has always and most likely deliberately, dropped the ball in
this area. That you can't easily and completely remove a program is
indicative of two possibilities:

1. Microsoft simply can't come up with the programming necessary to
monitor installations (totally implausible, or TU and ZSoft wouldn't
exist in the first place)

or more likely to serve this "hidden" agenda:

2. cluttering up a computer with orphan files and folders, conflicting
crap and bad registry entries will eventually convince the average
non-technically proficient end user that "OHMYGOD! I'd better get a new
computer with the latest version of Windows on it! This one is shot!"

The reality of having to periodically do a total reinstall of the OS,
all drivers and programs is bullshit and always has been. If Microsoft
really had these self-claimed values:

"As a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty,
openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual
self-improvement, and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers
and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big
challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing them through. We hold
ourselves accountable to our customers, shareholders, partners, and
employees by honoring our commitments, providing results, and striving
for the highest quality."

they'd improve their OS with each release instead of making it more
obfuscated as well as difficult to configure and use. However, IMO their
value statement actually should read:

...Nah. I won't go there. Maybe somebody else can.

--
John Corliss BS206. I use nFilter to block all crossposts, everything
from troublemakers like Andy Mabbett, Bear Bottoms, gavin, hummingbird,
Kayman and proteanthread, and all Google Groups posts because of
Googlespam. No ad, cd, commercial, cripple, demo, dotnet, nag, share,
spy, time-limited, trial or web wares OR warez for me, please.

Ooooh, Johnny!!

Ooooh, John-John!

My Hero!

<projectile green vomit>
--
See Brenda's UniWorldWare
http://tinyurl.com/nm2yt

I'm not a big MS fan - haven't been since my first exposure to them 30
years ago - but I don't feel they are at fault here.  True, they could
have included a program that would monitor installs ala TU but why
should they?

To my mind, the fault lies with the software authors and their not
including a comprehensive "uninstall" file which is what the MS remove
uses.  Who would think that some authors would either purposefully or
accidentally leave things out of it?

Perhaps a better word for "accidentally" would be "stupidly".  A lot
of authors aren't really programmers - they learned how to write code
that "does something" but aren't aware of all the ramifications.  True
programmers aren't that way but they are often so technically focused
that they misjudge the capabilities of users; IOW, what seems simple
and obvious to them isn't that way to most.

Basically, I agree with you but am placing the blame elsewhere.
AFATG, I don't like "installs" period but without them we would be
faced with (more of) a problem of multiple library files.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Sorry, but it looks to me like you're playing the devil's advocate here.
I thought I covered this by quoting their stated mission goals. They've
had more than enough time to correct this problem but haven't. As I
said, this indicates either stupidity or bad intention on their part. I
don't see any other possibilities. And certainly, this kind of feature
could more easily be construed to be part of an operating system than
say, their bundled Outlook Express or Internet Explorer etc.

I would agree that software authors are *partly* to blame, but frankly,
programming languages like Visual C etc. -anything within which can be
created Windows compatible programming- should be designed to not allow
program compilation unless full uninstall capabilities are included. You
can't herd cats (the programmers) unless you have them penned up with
such a requirement.

I would agree with that remark. And in addition, programmers seem to
also fall prey to the common delusion that "surely nobody would ever
want to uninstall my fine program anyway..."

Certainly I can see that issue but it's largely the result of Microsoft
not doing a better job with handling dll files. Supposedly (and GOD I
hate saying anything good about it) dotnet alleviates this problem.

Regardless, I don't know how Linux works, but TTBOMK, uninstalling a
program is clean. If it's true, then there's no reason MS Windows can't
be the same. If I'm wrong, then they both need to work on this.

Regardless, the end user should be able to pop programs in and out
cleanly. That is to say, without the need of having to go through the
tedious (if you have many programs installed) process of monitoring an
installation in order to ensure that you can do a reasonably clean job
of uninstalling it later.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I place the majority of the
blame on MS and that isn't going to change.

--
John Corliss BS206. I use nFilter to block all crossposts, everything
from troublemakers like Andy Mabbett, Bear Bottoms, gavin, hummingbird,
Kayman and proteanthread, and all Google Groups posts because of
Googlespam. No ad, cd, commercial, cripple, demo, dotnet, nag, share,
spy, time-limited, trial or web wares OR warez for me, please.

On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:15:54 -0800, John Corliss

VERY nice!  The groupings at the top give it both a functional and
unique arrangement.  I also posted posted some screenshots of mine
showing basic desktop, Start Menu, PopSel and Tray Wizard.  Maybe
others with organizing ideas will do the same.  Of course I hope they
post here with a heads up because I seldom check ABF.

It's a sewer, that's for sure.  A shame, really, because it could be a
pretty good resource for this group if it was used more often for its
intended purpose.  I think part of the problem is that some don't have
access to binary groups because their ISP doesn't provide it.  Even
newsgroups in general are being relegated to the back burner for many
internet providers.  Good free or low cost text news servers are out
there, but it's a different story when it comes to binaries.

--
Ron M.
(I filter Googlespam)

On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:21:28 -0800, John Corliss

No-installs with prefs saved to .ini files in the program's directory
and that, if absolutely necessary, rely on .dll files commonly already
installed are best of all.

--
Ron M.
(I filter Googlespam)

Agreed!!

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

I guess it's my biology degree, but I'm real obsessive about
categorizing things. Then SmartStartMenu came along to REALLY help me
find things quickly:

   http://www.planetharrington.com/products/smartstartmenu/

It's a toolbar that searches the shortcuts on your desktop and in your
Start Menu as you type. You can configure it to look in additional
locations also.

I use it all the time.

I notice that you're using a lower resolution (1024 X 768?) on your
screen though, so maybe such a thing would take up too much space on the
taskbar (although how much space it uses is easily adjustable, since
it's a toolbar.) Or maybe it's simply not your cup of tea.

My new 19" LCD monitor (EGAD why didn't I do this sooner?) has a native
resolution of 1280 X 1024. I can put a lot of stuff on the desktop now.
Not only that, but there's room for more stuff on my REAL desktop as
well. Plenty of room for SmartStartMenu.

--
John Corliss BS206. I use nFilter to block all crossposts, everything
from troublemakers like Andy Mabbett, Bear Bottoms, gavin, hummingbird,
Kayman and proteanthread, and all Google Groups posts because of
Googlespam. No ad, cd, commercial, cripple, demo, dotnet, nag, share,
spy, time-limited, trial or web wares OR warez for me, please.

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:17:35 -0800, John Corliss

1024x768 is right.  SmartStartMenu looks good, but I *am* more point,
click, drag, drop mouse oriented than type-ahead.  Been that way since
my early Amiga days in the mid to late 80's. <g>

You got me jonesin'.  ;^)

--
Ron M.
(I filter Googlespam)

That's the beauty of it. The dropdown arrow on the right side, when
clicked on, shows a list of the possible programs and you can click on
the one you want. That list is based on how much you've typed into the
search field, and the more you type the smaller the list gets.
SmartStartMenu isn't something you'd use all the time, it's just for
those times when, in spite of all the Start Menu organizing you may have
done, you can't remember where the shortcut for a program is.

But I guess it's not your cup of tea.

(OT)
If you put aside $15 a month, in a little over a year you can get a good
one. That's about three pitchers of beer a month.

You can wave your hand in front of an LCD and there is no strobing
effect. Do that in front of a CRT and it looks like and old-time movie.
Using a CRT is about like starting at a florescent light for hours at a
time. That's got to be doing some damage to your eyes, not to mention
the radiation you're most likely being exposed to.

In addition, there is no more worrying about many of the adjustments
(pincushion-barrel, side-to-side, top-to-bottom, width, height) that a
CRT requires. LCDs simply put the picture where it belongs and the
picture is far more sharp.
(/OT)

--
John Corliss BS206. I use nFilter to block all crossposts, everything
from troublemakers like Andy Mabbett, Bear Bottoms, gavin, hummingbird,
Kayman and proteanthread, and all Google Groups posts because of
Googlespam. No ad, cd, commercial, cripple, demo, dotnet, nag, share,
spy, time-limited, trial or web wares OR warez for me, please.

news:10cwnqe4un6ra.tav85nacju13$.dlg@40tude.net...

Ah bollocks - you're getting turned on - I can tell !

On Feb 19, 2:21 am, John Corliss <jcorl...@fake.invalid> wrote:

<snip> 

Sorry, but I just had to chime in here. To lay blame on Microsoft for
the existence of this issue is the ultimate in obsessive, compulsive
paranoia. The responsibility of building a correct and complete
uninstaller simply MUST rest with the 3rd party programmer. The OS
can't possibly know or figure out what is appropriate to remove at
uninstall time. Even if MS built in a feature to monitor installs,
would you expect it to continue monitoring running installations as
they wrote new keys/ branches to the registry? Everything would have
to slow to a crawl.

As a programmer, I can write a program with uninstall routine that
WILL COMPLETELY remove all traces from the registry and file system;
OTOH I can also write a sloppy uninstaller for the same program. It's
MY responsibility - not MS. Imagine your reaction if MS started
disallowing installations that didn't pass its uninstaller integrity
test. This would become yet another conspiracy, even though it
addresses the initial conspiracy you imagine above.

As a side note, many trial/shareware authors deliberately write
heavily obfuscated information to the registry (sometimes well after
installation/ initial run). They don't want this cleaned out at
uninstall, to ensure that a user can't simply uninstall/ reinstall
after the expiry of the trial period. MS never intended the registry
to be used in this manner - software authors concocted it... hardly
blamable on MS! This but one example. Flexibility and freedom must be
afforded the programmer, and with this comes a responsibility to do
things cleanly.

Brian