Classic Shell: Forum

I have been trying to lock down a new PC, Win7 Home Premium X64 for my daughter and her kids (10&12). After a few days of dealing with Home Premium limitations (GPEdit etc), I have found Classic Shell as one of my options. I also have Win7 Parental Controls (Programs) turned on for each child.

I am trying to limit the actual programs shown in the All Programs list for the two kids. I know how to turn the list completely off, but I just want to limit which programs are shown.

I can delete some but not all.

Example: I cannot delete Windows Update. I receive an error saying that I need permission from SYSTEM to remove it. I suspect this might be one requiring Group Policy, but Home of course does not have that option.

Is there a deeper setting in Classic Shell that I can use for these type items? I was hoping that Classic Shell contained the code to to get beyond this issue as a "shell" residing over the Default WIN7 Start menu shell.

Thanks

There are 2 Start menu folders in Windows: the one that is specific to each currently logged in user account and an "All Users" Start Menu.

To hide programs from any specific account, log in to that account and open the Classic Start Menu. Right click "Programs" and choose "Open". Go inside the "Programs" folder.

You can cut-paste (move) any shortcuts from this folder to another location. e.g. to the Start Menu folder for *your* account. To do this, open Explorer by pressing Win+E and go to C:\Users\<your user name folder>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. Now you can return to the "Programs" folder for the currently logged in account. Select any shortcuts you don't want to show and right click them, choose Cut. Switch to C:\Users\<your user name folder>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and right click an empty area, choose Paste.

This way, you can move all shortcuts so they are present only in your user account's Start Menu folder.

Similarly, you need to repeat the above steps for the "All Users" folder. Open the Classic Start Menu again, right click "Programs" again but now choose "Open All Users". Go inside this "Programs" folder too. Move any shortcuts to the Start Menu folder for *your* user account.

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Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Thank You,

That got it sorted. Of course if I ever have to do this again, I will insist on a copy of Win7 Pro and avoid the hassles.