How to permanently remove programs from the Start Menu

In another post someone asked the question: How to permanently remove/ban programs from the Start Menu Recent List? (Since manually deleting them will only get them back on once the program is started again.) The sole answer gave a suggestion to "switch the feature off". This answer though useful to some is not to me. Those programs which are indeed often used are on the desktop via a shortcut. Those on the start menu, are programs not often used or perhaps only used this week, then not used for 2 months, then used again later once. Therefore, as the reader suggested, to then, after turning the feature off and"add links to the programs you do want there manually" doesn't do it since I may not want them there 'next week' nor do I like the idea of me having to manually add them and manually remove them all the time. In Windows XP there used to be a little Microsoft program called TweakUI (Power Toys) that would do exactly that--controlled which programs could go there and which could not. Considering that TweakUi was originally made for the 1st or 2nd Windows version (before Windows 95) I hesitate to use it again for Windows 7. Does anyone have a suggestion?

What you should do is pin the programs you do want to either the Taskbar or Start Menu and then ignore the recently used list.

I personally pin my daily apps to Taskbar and then pin my weekly apps to Start Menu. Any program that I rarely use, can be found through All Programs when needed.

On a side note, the Start Menu Icons can be made smaller to take less room than they do by default. Anyone wanting to pin a great number of apps, may want smaller icons on the Start Menu.

1. right click Taskbar or Start Menu
2. select properties
3. switch tabs to Start Menu
4. select customize
5. scroll down to "Use large icons"
6. select for large icons or de-select for small icons
7. click ok to save settings

Use large icons

Thanks for your help. I sort of do what you do as well. But it is not exactly what I was looking for that is why I wrote, "Therefore, as the reader suggested, to then, after turning the feature off and"add links to the programs you do want there manually" doesn't do it since I may not want them there 'next week' nor do I like the idea of me having to manually add them and manually remove them all the time."

Considering that you may be answering exactly what I asked and that it is me who hasn't fully understood your answer, let me be more specific. Two things I have on my desktop are a shortcut I created to automatically reboot my PC and one to automatically shut it down. Using these shortcuts is something I do daily. They are on my desktop. If I wanted them on my Start menu I would simply use what is already there. Since I use these from my desktop I do not want them showing up there every time. There are other similar examples. Now that I am hopefully more clear, you can see why my question was asked. Do you still suggest your method?

Having said this there is perhaps another detail which I don't understand or haven't explained properly. A 'pinned' software on the Start Menu will, if you right-click on it, give you 2 options: one is to remove it from there, the other is to unpin it. In my case if I R-click on any shortcut on the Start menu there is no 'unpin' choice but rather the opposite. The drop-down menu asks me if I want to pin it there (or on my task bar). This tells me that I haven't pinned them. This also tells me I don't really know the difference between a pinned program there and one that isn't pinned there--except for maybe guessing that pinned is created by me, the other is placed there by itself when the program is run. Besides this I can't see the difference between the 2, therefore suggesting I may not really have understood your answer.

You might also enable the old Quicklaunch toolbar- disabled by default, and use both the Taskbar and Quicklaunch.

Do not use TweakUI on Windows7. You are correct that it was made for earlier versions of Windows.

There is, however, Ultimate Windows Tweaker but I don't see where it lets you edit items out of the "MRU" - most recently used list.

I agree with Clifford. You should "pin" those items you use to the start menu (or taskbar), then not use, or disable completely, the MRU.

In searching, I cannot find a way to do what you want.

But as suggested, best option I know of is to simply turn off the recent list, pin ones that you do want there all the time to the main start menu, and for those you only need occasionally you hit the "all programs" and find it in the complete list.

Thanks again to all of you, really. I guess the best bet is perhaps to seriously consider the removing it option and pinning. The truth is it is not that I want some of them there permanently, for programs I use permanently are on the taskbar and on a dock program I use, not really at all, but simply there are some I definitely do NOT want there. Those that I don't mind being there I also don't mind if they leave there after a while being replaced by others. Let me exaplain. There are some things I use often but only for a while. For example I may use some utitility or Photo viewing program like AcDsee. Now since I may be using these two for the next 3-4 days or so I don't mind them being there for now, thus saving me the time of finding them. But I will not perhaps use them again for weeks, hence I will not have a shortcut anywhere for them (taskbar, desktop) since they are not often used and when I stop using them I then simply delete it form the Start menu or have future programs being used delete them in due time.
I hope you can see why there are some I don't want there, others I do, and others that I already have elsewhere.
An example of what I don't want on the taskbar is the 2 shortcuts I created on my desktop that make, in 1 click, Windows either shutdown, or reboot. I created these shortcuts hence Windows 'doesn't know' about them-with the exception of the task bar which does.

Yes I understood what you wanted, to maintain a list of programs that NEVER appear in the recently used programs list even when used, just not aware of a way to do it in W7.

That's the easy part. The hard part is keeping only the ones you want in there at the same time.

You may be able to play with some of the Exclude options in CCleaner. Not sure that will serve your purpose.

If me and I was in your situation, I would pin the programs I want to see to either the Start Menu, the Taskbar or Quicklaunch. Then I would set Windows to not use MRUs at all.