How to remove a program from windows 10 start. Recently added and frequently used applications

One of the main differences between Windows 10, noticeable to users, from previous versions, has become a change in the interface of the operating system. We will tell you how to customize the Start menu in Windows 10 for yourself for comfortable work with the system.

Metro style: new implementation

The Windows graphical interface, dubbed Metro, replaced Aero a few years ago, when Microsoft's mobile OS and Windows 8 desktop were introduced. Instead of glossy icons, the company introduced new format menu consisting of rectangular tiles.

This interface turned out to be very comfortable for the owners. mobile devices(smartphones and tablets) equipped with touch screens. But users of desktop PCs and laptops perceived the innovation ambiguously. Navigating the tiled menu with the mouse proved to be noticeably more difficult than using the touchscreen, and some people took the innovation with hostility.

However, given the growing popularity touch screens in the niche of laptops and desktop computers, we should expect that the popularity of the Metro-interface will only increase.

The start menu is back

The start menu has been an integral part of the Windows interface for many years, but in 2012 it was decided to abandon its use in favor of the Metro desktop. Not everyone was satisfied with such an innovation, and in the latest version of their OS, Microsoft decided to return it, having improved it considerably.


Arguments over whether a Start menu is needed at 10 Windows versions, there were quite a few, but most users were in favor of returning this UI element. It is not known whether Microsoft listened to the opinions of users, or was guided by ergonomics, but, one way or another, the modified Start menu is back.

The main difference between the new implementation of this interface element was the combination of classic menu items and live tiles. Customization options have also been expanded: now everyone can customize the Start menu for themselves.

Setting up a tiled interface in Start

Unlike classic icons that call applications, tiles are interactive elements. They can be used not only as a shortcut, but also serve to display relevant information from the application. It could be the weather forecast, unread messages, foreign exchange rates, service notices.

The functionality of live tiles in the new OS remained at the level of Windows 10, no visible innovations were made by Microsoft. To customize the tiles, just right-click on the icon. You can edit the size, color, turn animation on or off, send an icon to the taskbar, or remove an icon from Start.

Adding and removing new tiles

To add a new application tile, find it in the list of programs and right-click on its name. In the pop-up menu, select "Pin to Start Screen".


Similar operations must be performed to remove the tile, only you need to select the item “Unpin from home screen».


In order to change the location of the icon in the menu, you need to hold the tile with the right mouse button and drag it to Right place.

Size setting

Users have the ability to change not only the location, but also the size of the tiles. There are several size options available for each icon. Depending on them, the functionality of the tile also changes: with a minimum size, the tile serves only to call the program, but when enlarged, it can also be used as an output element. How much information an icon can display, and in what format it will do so, depends on its size.

To resize a tile, right-click on it and select the Resize option.


Tiles can be rectangular or square. The larger it is, the wider the functionality, but on small screens, the loss of space can override any benefits from this.

A slight disadvantage of tiles is that if the size is set to small and the number is odd, there will be empty spaces in the menu. You can fix it by changing the size of individual icons and their location.

Prevent tiles from updating

It is quite convenient to receive various notifications from applications in real time. But sometimes developers pay too much attention to this feature, and as a result, the user is constantly distracted by insignificant program messages. To avoid this, the Start menu settings provide an option to turn off notifications from individual tiles.

To do this, right-click on the tile and select "Disable live tiles" from the pop-up menu.

After that, the tile design will always remain unchanged and annoying messages will stop bothering you.


Customize the colors of the Start menu

The watermark background in Windows 10 can be changed in the same way as the color of individual tiles. To do this, right-click anywhere not occupied by the icon and select the "Personalization" menu item.


In the window that opens, you can specify the background color in the Start menu, as well as change some other settings. You can choose for yourself not only the color, but also its saturation. The user can select a ready-made color scheme, or customize it in detail to your taste yourself.


Pinning a program shortcut to the start screen of the Start menu

If you want to ensure the fastest access to an application or program in the start menu, you can fix it in the initial screen of the menu.

To do this, right-click on the desktop shortcut of the program or application you want. After that, a pop-up menu will appear where you need to click "Pin to Home Screen". Now you can open the menu and change the location of the created tile by moving it between groups.


Also for the newly added tile, you can set the name of the group in which it is located. There is also a reverse process, you can make a shortcut from any tile located on the home screen by holding the tile with the right mouse button and dragging it to the desktop.

Icons pinned to the left side of the Start can be easily removed from there, just press the right mouse button and select the option "Advanced" and "Do not show in this list".


Adding Special Elements

This feature is also present in Windows 10, but the principle of its operation is somewhat different from adding tiles. First of all, you should go to the Desktop, and then right-click on an empty space and select the "personalize" option. In the window that appears, select the "Start" tab at the bottom. In the dialog box that appears, you can find a list of items that can be added to the left half of the "Start".


Returning the Start Menu from Windows 7

Not everyone liked the updated interface of Windows 10. Some have long been accustomed to the old look of the OS, others simply do not like the tiled elements of Start. In this case, the developers have provided the ability to return the menu to the classic look familiar to everyone in Windows 7. You can customize the Start so that outwardly it will not differ from the previous version of the OS from Microsoft.

The easiest method to do this is to remove all live tiles. Disabling them in a couple of clicks, unfortunately, will not work, you will have to delete each of them manually. You can then change the width of the right side of the window so that it is collapsed.

The return of the Metro tile menu

Small screen tablet owners who are accustomed to the Metro menu may find the return of "Start" inconvenient on their device. Therefore, developers from Microsoft have provided the ability to manually activate the Metro start screen in the OS.


To do this, right-click on the taskbar and select "personalize" from the pop-up menu. In the window that opens, open the "Start" tab and enable the option "Open the start screen in full screen mode". In the final building Windows will no longer prompt you to log in again, and you can enjoy the start menu familiar from Windows 8 without restarting your PC.

What you need to know before upgrading to Windows 10

In addition to the attractive innovations that many users have already liked, the new OS is not without its drawbacks.

Yes, on this moment there is not yet full and error-free support for all devices that work perfectly under Windows 7. The impossibility of disabling automatic system updates in the usual way can also upset many users. Indeed, with limited traffic or low connection speed, downloading updates can result in additional costs or affect the quality of Internet browsing during the download period.

Those who do not like interference in his life may be alerted by the fact that the OS analyzes the user's behavior and collects information about it. This is done both to improve work and for advertising purposes, so many people are not happy with this approach.

So by setting new version OS, you should be aware of its features and take full responsibility for its unstable operation or dissemination of information about the user.

How to clean the start menu from unnecessary shortcuts in Windows 8

In fact, it is very simple, but for general development, we do it according to the instructions.

A checkmark icon will appear on the tile, indicating that it is selected. If desired, you can select several tiles. To do this, simply right-click on a few more shortcuts or widgets you don't need.

4) After pressing the button, the tile will disappear, which is exactly what we needed:

How to remove unwanted shortcuts from the All Programs menu in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

A little introduction. In order to get to the "All Programs" menu in Windows 8, you need to right-click in an empty area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe start screen and there click the button on the right "All Programs". In Windows 8.1, the input was slightly changed, and to view programs, you just need to move the cursor to the bottom of the screen and press the down arrow that appears:

As it turned out, the location of the shortcuts has not changed much since the past operating systems, and for cleaning it is enough to go through two folders. We go in, delete unnecessary shortcuts or even directories.

The first one is in the following path:

C:\Users\*username*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

It is the user's personal folder. That is, it contains those shortcuts that relate to programs installed only for your user. Remind me to see the folder Appdata display must be enabled hidden folders and files (see).

The second folder is located in the following location:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

It is common to all users on this computer, i.e. if you delete the shortcut in this folder from under your user, it will automatically be deleted from the Start menu and from another user. Folder ProgramData is also hidden (see).

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Windows 10 users may notice that ads for recommended apps appear on the Start menu from time to time, both on the left side of it and on the right side with tiles. Apps like Candy Crush Soda Saga, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Autodesk Sketchbook and others can also be automatically installed all the time. And after removing them, the installation occurs again. This "option" appeared after one of the first big Windows updates 10 and operates under the Microsoft Consumer Experience feature.

This guide details how to disable recommended apps in the Start menu, as well as prevent Candy Crush Soda Saga, Bubble Witch 3 Saga and other junk from being installed again after being uninstalled in Windows 10.

Shutdown automatic installation unwanted applications even after removing them is somewhat more difficult, but still possible. This will require disabling Microsoft Consumer Experience in Windows 10.

Disable Microsoft Consumer Experience in Windows 10

Disable Microsoft features Consumer Experience (Microsoft consumer experience), aimed at delivering promotional offers to you in the Windows 10 interface, you can use the editor Windows Registry 10.


Important note: after reboot unnecessary applications in the Start menu can be installed again (if their addition there was initialized by the system even before you made a change in settings). Wait for them to be "Downloaded" and delete them (there is an item in the right-click menu for this) - after that they will not reappear.

Everything described above can be done by creating and executing a simple bat file with content (see):

Reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v "DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures" /t reg_dword /d 1 /f reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v "DisableSoftLanding" /t reg_dword /d 1 /f reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v "SilentInstalledAppsEnabled" /t reg_dword /d 0 /f

Also, if you have Windows 10 Professional and above, you can use the local editor group policy to disable consumer options.


After that, also restart your computer or File Explorer. Going forward (unless Microsoft introduces something new), the recommended apps in the Windows 10 start menu should not bother you.

Update 2017: the same can be done not manually, but with third party programs, for example, in (the option is in the Behavior section).

Do you want to remove shortcuts for installed programs from the Windows 10 Start Menu, but don't want to delete entire games and programs?

There is a way to remove or rename programs and folders from the start menu. How to do it?

When you install a program or game, an icon is created in the start to launch the application.

Sometimes new appearances are not limited to one shortcut, and separate links to program settings are also added.

Programs create whole folders in the menu, in which you will find not only shortcuts to launch the application, but also help files, registration links or text files with documentation.

In short, after a while, "Start" is terribly overflowing with rubbish. The obvious way to put things in order is to remove the excess.

To do this, we right-click on the selected shortcut and we already want to select the “Delete” option, and suddenly it turns out that such a function simply does not exist.

We can only remove the program we no longer want or only remove the icon.

Remove Programs from the Start Menu in Windows 10

All the contents of the list of applications in the "Start" in Windows 10 are stored in a special folder containing all the icons.

You just need to get access there, then change the names of shortcuts and folders or delete them completely. Any changes you make will be immediately reflected in the menu. It's very easy to do.

All you have to do is open Start and then look for the icon for the program or game you want to uninstall from the list of applications.

You should then right-click on the abbreviation and then select "Advanced" -> "Open file location" from the drop-down menu.

A window will open showing the path containing the shortcuts and folders displayed in Start. Windows 10 has several of these folders. It can be one of the following ways:

  • C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start menu/Programs/
  • C:/Users/Your username/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/Start menu/Programs/

Some shortcuts are stored in one section, and some are stored in another. The system will automatically select the right location for you after selecting the option "Advanced" -> "Open File Location".

AT open folder There are shortcuts for programs and games that appear in the menu on Windows 10.

The only exceptions are applications downloaded from Windows storage 10 - they are not displayed here, and the only way to remove them is their complete uninstallation.

If you want to change the name of a shortcut or folder, just right-click on it and choose Rename.

Then enter a new name for the element and confirm it by pressing the Enter key. The changes will be applied and the icon/folder in Start will also change its name to the same one.

In turn, if you want to remove something from the menu, just remove the selected shortcut or folder from the open directory.

Removing the icon or folder will not remove the app - the only thing we will remove are the links in Start.

After deleting shortcuts and folders, the changes will be updated and the deleted items will also disappear from the menu in Windows 10. Good luck.

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