Interface Customizations First, I would like to describe some useful user interface (UI) customizations. Most of these can't be set using the GUI tools or administrative utilities | Interface Customization First I would like to describe some useful user interface UI customizations. Most of these can t be set using the GUI tools or administrative utilities. Registry Values for Configuring Start the Menu in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Most users especially beginners will prefer to customize the taskbar and Start menu using the standard Graphical User Interface GUI . However there are lots of capabilities that allow advanced users to customize the Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 interface by using Group Policy Object Editor or by editing the registry directly. Let s cover these settings in more detail. The most convenient way to edit the taskbar and Start menu features is provided by Group Policy Object Editor. To start editing these policies in a workgroup environment or on a standalone Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 computer proceed as follows 1. Click Start click Run type mmc and then click OK. 2. From the File menu select the Add Remove Snap-in command. Go to the Standalone tab and click Add. 3. From the Available Standalone Snap-ins list select the Group Policy option and click the Add button. When the Select Group Policy Object window opens select the Local Computer option to edit the local Group Policy Object GPO or click Browse to find the Group Policy Object that you want. 4. Click Finish then Close then OK. The Group Policy snap-in opens the Group Policy Object for editing. Expand the console tree in the left pane of this window as follows User Configuration Administrative Templates Start Menu and Taskbar Fig. . Figure Editing the Start menu and taskbar policies using Group Policy Editor Note In a domain environment to accomplish the same goal you must open the Group Policy tool MMC snap-in focused on a specific GPO. To do so start the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in right-click the name of the domain or organizational unit of interest and select the Properties command from the context menu. Then .
