I have a few computers that run Windows Live Sync and was recently annoyed by one of its strange features.
The Problem
There is a folder in my start menu that is named “Windows Live.” In this folder is a single entry for starting up the sync program and is named “Windows Live Sync.” So what is the problem?
I moved that folder into another folder on my start menu. A little while later the same folder appears right back where it originally was found. So I delete it and it magically reappears later.
What gives? First of all, this is really a feature. Here is a posting I found on a tech forum:
KyongHwan Kim [MSFT] posted on Monday, December 29, 2008 10:09 PM
That’s expected behavior(By Design) in this release.
We will revisit it to improve user experience.Thanks!
On one hand I found this this hard to believe. What programming manager decided it was a good design idea to purposely thwart a users wish to get rid of something? On the other hand I found it not surprising. Big c0mpanies working on big projects can fumble things.
The Fix
How to get rid of the annoying reappearance of the Windows Live start menu items
Method one
One workable solution is to Microsoft’s TweakUI. Fight fire with fire. Open the program and:
- go to the Taskbar and Start Menu
- from the expandable list there (click on the plus sign next to the item mentioned above) choose “start menu”
- find the entry for Windows Live Sync in the window of “frequently used items” and uncheck it
Done
Method 2
Open a command prompt and locate the Windows Live folder (Right click on it in the menu and you can easily see where it was located); for instance for mine was located in:
C:\Users\jason\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Navigate to the folder containing Windows Live; and run:
attrib +s +h “Windows Live”
This will cause it to have the same attributes as protected operating systems files and be hidden from your site.
It’s still there, but it’s not visually messing up your world.
Done!
Big thanks go out to:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/33742023/a-new-and-different-pro.aspx
and
http://g.www.ms.akadns.net/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windows.live.sync&tid=8b144ea6-d62c-41a2-b977-ceac9e39ae09&cat=&lang=&cr=&sloc=&p=1