Start Menu - Context Menu disabled?

[Jova]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to fix my father's PC. His operating system is Windows 98 and the problem is the Start Menu's context menu.

When I press Start and then up to Programs where I can go across, there is a huge list of applications which are not organised in alphabetical order. I tried right-clicking but no context menu appears.

In the context menu, I would have selected 'Sort by Name' which would have sorted out the names in the correct order. Is there a way to enable the context menu?

Can you please help me out?

Cheers,
Jova

[GaryRouth]

Hi Jova

And welcome to Pc Mechanic.

You have the option of left-clicking and dragging them up or down the list to arrange them in any order you'd like. I don't think there is a context menu for the main Start menu.

I've never tried this, but it might work (I've always just dragged things up and down the menu to where I wanted them) -
Right-click the taskbar, go to Properties, Start Menu Programs, Advanced - then select programs with a left-click, and from the View menu, select Arrange icons - select by Name. Close the window, click Ok, and see if it saves the alphabetical order - or not. If not, just drag things to alphabetical order manually, it only takes a minute.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[Jova]

I'm sorry, I should have explained clearly that it's Program menu I'm having problems with. I cannot bring up the context menu within the Program menu by right clicking. Nothing happens at all.

Plus, I cannot select any menu item in Programs menu if I wanted to shift it. This also goes for any menu folder within Programs menu e.g. Accessories, Microsoft Office, RealPlayer.

I'm aware you can't enable the context menu in the Start menu bu it should work once you are in the Programs menu.

On my PC, I can sort my list of Programs by name and my op system is Win 98.

I didn't understand how did this happen, so I wondered if there was a way to bring back the context menu in the Programs menu.

Thanks for your help, Gary.

Cheers,
John

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

As far as I know, the only context menus available with a right-click when resting your mouse anywhere on the Programs menu are going to refer only to the item the cursor is next to: either a shortcut to a program, or for a group of shortcuts in a folder.

Are you sure you can't just left-click and drag and item from one place to another (it must be done straight up or down, without the cursor leaving the menu area) - I've never come across a Win98 machine that couldn't do this.

And - give the trick I mentioned about right-clicking the taskbar in my post above a try: it might work fine: it is for the items in the Program menu.

Let me know how it comes out
. . . Gary

[Rick Hall]

There is a full contexr menu when you right click on the programs menu that allow you to send to, delete, sort, copy, etc.

[Jova]

As far as I know, the only context menus available with a right-click when resting your mouse anywhere on the Programs menu are going to refer only to the item the cursor is next to: either a shortcut to a program, or for a group of shortcuts in a folder.

I have done this, on my father's PC I placed the cursor over a menu item e.g. Microsoft Word and right-clicked this item. Nothing happened.

Are you sure you can't just left-click and drag and item from one place to another (it must be done straight up or down, without the cursor leaving the menu area) - I've never come across a Win98 machine that couldn't do this.

I also left-clicked the same menu item to select and drag. I wasn't able to do this at all, no matter what. The mouse is in working order. I can left and right-click the mouse in other areas of the operating system but not in the Programs menu.

I find it totally frustrating because I am able to do this action on my PC, but not on my father's. I will have to take a look in the Control Panel to see if there's something restricting this action.

And - give the trick I mentioned about right-clicking the taskbar in my post above a try: it might work fine: it is for the items in the Program menu.

In the Explorer window, I sorted the items by name but this does not affect the Programs menu. I have done this twice and no changes took place in the Programs menu.

The Programs menu are still in the same dis-organised order.

My father bought his PC from Tiny (UK company) and they had their own software installed in the system.

Thanks for your time and suggestions. Please keep them coming.

I hope someone out there will have an answer on hand.

Cheers,
John

[GaryRouth]

Hmm . . . does your father's system have TweakUI installed? That has quite a few options and of course tweaks to the way the desktop appears and acts. If it's installed (or any other tweak program as well), it would be listed under the Startup tab in the System Configuration utility - available from Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information . . . and select System Configuration from the "Tools" menu. [or type sysconfig in the Start/Run box].

If it's installed, look to see if any options affect the behavior of the Programs Menu. I don't have a copy installed anymore, or I'd look for you.

Just out of curiousity, the changes you make in the Advanced tab of the Taskbar & Start Menu Properties box should be permanent. Try changing perhaps just one item manually, and see if it sticks. Looks like changes to the View didn't matter - but where each appears on that Explorer-like tree should matter.

[Just as a wild stab at something to try, you could also go with a fresh download of IE6 SP1, since so many of the files are updated with that package - many of which affect the behavior of the desktop. . . and you'd get a bunch of security updates along the way, too]
__________
The posts of both yours and others mention a context menu from a right-click on the Programs Folder on the Start Menu - well, I suppose it's something I've never considered before, but I've gone to all the Win98 machines I could find (about 6 or 7 so far), and none of them have a context menu pop up by right-clicking on "Programs" in the Start Menu. Now, in Windows Explorer there is a context menu that appears when right-clicking on the Start Menu's Program subfolder (none of the machines so far had an option for "Sort").

Curious. Hopefully a tech who's paid more attention to Start/Program menus will have a definitive answer for us. I'll be interested to hear it myself.

Never a dull moment.
. . . Gary

[hmm... one other thought: after you changed the order of the programs under that Advanced tab, did you reboot? Sometimes the view won't change until after a restart, even when not prompted.]