Okay small question in windows ME in the start pop up menu thing where all the programs are listed has this really annoying thing to get all the programs to be displayed you have click on this wee arrow at the bottom and they all appear. When they appear some are high lighted and some are not.

Can i kill this "feature" and how do i kill it

Thank you

Right-click on the taskbar, select Properties, and then uncheck "Personalised Menus". At least that's where it is in W2K, so I'm guessing it'll be somewhere nearby in ME.

I checked my other machine, and yep, exactly the same as my Win2K machine. Last option in the Task Bar properties window.

The fun thing is turning this feature off for MS Word. Ugh. Click click click...

You think you've got it tough? Try writing training software or manuals for this feature.

Once upon a time, our trainers used to be able to give a simple instruction:

"Click on the Tools menu and select Options."

Now these formerly simple instructions have to include a two-paragraph explanation about the personalized menus.

"But it makes the programs easier to use." Shyeah, right.

I never even gave that a thought it must make mircpants millions of dollars with all the extra books they can sell to get round this bug sorry feature

What is the point of it anyway i don't see any advantage.

I HATE that feature. It took me some asking to find out how to fix it too. I got rid of it on an ME machine, but now my Win2k box is wierd. I have those personalized menus in the favorites drop-down in IE, but not in the programs menu. Why is this? How do I fix it?

And I thought I was the only one to find this 'feature' extremely annoying. Do MS actually ask any real users what they think of new features/behaviour?

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

If they did do you think that we would have the kind of crap that turns up or would we have something that is nice easy and reliable.

i can't wait to see how often the Xbox thing crashes not very often would be my bet.

<I>Do MS actually ask any real users what they think of new features/behaviour?</I>

Yes.

Now the next part defines a user:
A typical user composing most of Microsofts market will be the person who simply uses their computer. They are definitely not a power user, and never stray into anything remotely close to TweakUI. (And they would never go into the registry). These people are the ones who install tons of software packages, and never clean up after them. Thus their start menu is huge, and at their resolution, is probably scrolling, or dual layered depending on what Windows they have. So these people are the ones that like these type of features. For the Start Menu, it makes sense for those who don't clean it up or organize it. In Office though, it doesn't make much sense to me. The menus never change, so why hide them?

Hmmm... I take your point but I wish they'd make it easier/possible to remove the feature in Office apps. I'm running Win '98 both at home and at work so that particular functionality isn't in my face all the time - just when I'm using Office. However when I do upgrade to Windows XP eventually (I'm guessing it's in there too) I'll have to deal with it. Still, sounds like it's easy enough to eradicate in Windows, just not so easy in Office. This is just one of many things MS change for the worse when they launch a new generation of product like changing 'Settings' to 'Options' (I think it used to be 'Settings'). Oh yeah and those awful scrolling Start menus rather than the perfectly usable wrapover menus. Why change it? It's fine as it is. Also, why do they take out or hide functionality which you've got to rely on, like faxing? It was there in 3.1 then they decided to hide it away in '95. It's there, but you have to go get it from the CD and install it manually. Very naughty.

I must ask again as nobody has responded. How do you turn off the feature in IE 5.5?

I unchecked personalized menus in the taskbar options, and yes it stops the truncating in the program menu, but not in the favorites drop-down menu. Argh. I like Microsoft, but forcing interface features on you with no obvious ways to change them (and no mention in any Help file), is VERY annoying. Argh.

From IE, select the "Tools" menu at the top, and then select "Internet Options". On the last tab, "Advanced", under "Browsing" there's an option (at least on my system) that reads "Enable Personalized Favorites Menu". Uncheck that.

Nice of them to make it straigtforward. ;)