The desktop environment can help a user be more productive by providing easy access to the most used resources, or it can hinder productivity by being cluttered, disorganized, and difficult to locate icons when you need them. When you customize the desktop environment, you will focus on making access to resources as easy and efficient as possible.Four areas that you can customize are the:
Start menu
Startup folder
Taskebar
My Documents folderCustomizing the Start Menu
Clicking Start displays a menu that enables users to easily gain access to the most used items on the computer. The following sections describe the organization of the Start menu and provide instruction about how to customize it.Examining the Windows XP Professional Start Menu The right frame of the Start menu consists of three sections that display standard folders and utilities. The left frame also consists of three sections. The top section displays the pinned programs, which are programs that are manually attached to the top left of the Start menu. The default e-mail program and browser always appear in pinned programs. Beneath the pinned programs, recently used programs appear.
The Start menu is color-coded. The white area of the Start menu is user-based, while the light blue area is operating-system-based. The light blue area can only be customized in limited ways. When customizing the different sections of the Start menu, you have the choice of customizing it for the user who is currently logged on, or for all users on the computer.

Customizing the Start Menu for All UsersWhen you customize the Start menu for all users, you are adding an item that anyone logged on to the computer can use.You can add a submenu to the Start menu for easy access to a group of programs. For example, if everyone who uses a computer performs the same job function, you might want to add a submenu that contains the programs that the employees use most. You can also add to the Start menu a shortcut to a specific program or resource, or drag a frequently used item in a submenu onto the main Start menu.Adding a Submenu for All UsersTo add a submenu for all users, perform the following steps:
Right-click Start, and then click Open all Users.
Double-click the folder to which you want to add the submenuIf you place the submenu in the Start Menu folder, it becomes pinned to the top of the All Programs menu. If you place the submenu in the Programs folder, it will be placed alphabetically in the list of programs.
On the File menu, point to New, and then click Folder.
Type a name for the folder, and then press ENTER.
In My Computer or Windows Explorer, drag any programs or shortcuts that you want to appear on the menu into the folder that you just created.Adding a Shortcut for All UsersTo add a shortcut for all users, perform the following steps:
Right-click Start, click Open All Users, click File, point to New, and then click Shortcut.
Type the location of the item for which you want to create a shortcut, or click Browse to locate the item, and then click OK.
Click Next, type a name for the shortcut, and then click Finish.

Customizing the Start Menu for Individual UsersThere may be instances when you will want to customize the Start menu for a particular user only. You can add shortcuts and submenus, and pin programs to an individual's Start menu.Adding a Submenu for an Individual UserThe process for adding a submenu to an individual's Start menu is similar to adding a submenu for all users. The difference between the two procedures is the first step of the process, which changes as follows:
Right-click Start, click Explore All Users, expand the folder of the user whose Start menu that you want to customize, and then click Start Menu.Adding a Shortcut for an Individual UserTo add a shortcut to an individual's Start menu, perform the following steps:
Right-click the object for which you want to create a shortcut, and then click Create Shortcut.
Drag, or cut and paste, the shortcut into the individual's Start menu or Programs folder.Changing Start Menu PropertiesYou can alter the properties of the Start menu; for example, you can change whether items are displayed as links or menus or not displayed at all. When you make this type of alteration, the change affects only the logged on user.To make changes to Start menu properties, perform these steps:
Right-click Start, click Properties, click Customize, make desired changes on the General and Advanced tabs, and then click OK twice.Note: You can use the Start menu that is used in previous versions of Microsoft Windows instead of the Start menu in Windows XP by changing the properties of the Start menu.Pinning a Program to the Start MenuPrograms are the only items that you can pin to the Start menu. When you pin a program to the Start menu, it applies only to the user that is currently logged on. To accomplish this task:
Right-click the program that you want to pin to the Start menu, and then click Pin to Start menu.Customizing the Startup FolderIf users always use a particular program or programs as soon as they log on, it is convenient to have those programs automatically start when the user logs on. To enable a program to start automatically when a user logs on, place a shortcut to that program in the appropriate Startup folder. You can customize the Startup folder for all users or individual users.To enable programs to start automatically upon logon, perform the following steps:
Right-click Start, and then click Explore All Users.
Expand either All Users or a specific user.
Expand Start Menu, and then click Programs in the left pane.
In the right pane, copy the shortcut for the programs that you want to start automatically upon logon.
Expand Programs, right-click Startup, and then click Paste. The shortcuts to the desired programs will now appear in the Startup folder. When the user whose Startup folder you have customized next logs on, the programs will automatically start.Customizing the TaskbarThe taskbar in Windows XP Professional is substantially different than it is in previous versions of Windows.Adding Programs to the Quick Launch ToolbarTo add frequently used icons to the Quick Launch toolbar for easy, one-click access, perform the following steps:
Right-click an empty area of the Quick Launch bar, and then click Open Folder.
On the File menu, click New, and then click Shortcut.
Type the location of, or browse to, the desired program, click Next, and then click Finish.
Alternately, you can drag any program icon onto the Quick Launch toolbar, which will automatically create a shortcut to the program.
Customizing Taskbar Properties
You can easily customize the properties of the taskbar. For example, you can control whether the taskbar is automatically hidden, whether inactive icons are hidden, and when individual icons should display in the notification area. To customize taskbar behavior:
Right-click an empty area on the taskbar, and then click Properties.
Make desired changes on the Taskbar tab, click Customize, make desired changes to individual notification icons, and then click OK twice.
Adding Toolbars to the TaskbarThere are a number of different toolbars that you can add to the taskbar. The following table delineates the functionality of those toolbars, and how to customize them.
Toolbar
Function
To customize
Address
Provides a Web browser address bar into which you can type the URL (uniform resource locator) to a Web site that you want to open.
Each time you type a URL into this toolbar, that URL will become part of a list from which you can choose.
Links
Provides a quick way to open Web pages, shortcuts, and other items.
Drag the Web page's icon from the Address bar directly to the Links bar. Or drag any link from a Web page, your Favorites bar, or your desktop onto the Links bar.
Desktop
Provides easy access to all items on the desktop.
Because this toolbar shows all items on the desktop, you can change what is available on the toolbar by adding or removing items from the desktop. Users who do not like a crowded desktop can hide all items on the desktop and open them from this toolbar.
Language Band
Provides easy access to text tools such as IMEs and writing and speech recognition programs. It also provides a way to switch between languages and keyboard layouts.
This bar automatically displays when you have any of the appropriate programs installed. The buttons displayed depend on which programs are installed.
New Toolbar
Provides a quick link to any folder or network place on your computer.
Right-click the taskbar, point to Toolbars, click New Toolbar, move to the desired resource, and then click OK. The toolbar will be named the same as the resource, and you will be able to gain access to everything within that resource from the toolbar.Customizing the My Documents FolderMy Documents is a commonly used folder for storing a user's data. Customizing this folder can improve a user's productivity by enabling that user to more easily and efficiently store and gain access to data.A user's My Documents folder is by default available only to that user and administrators when on an NTFS file system partition. However, My Documents can be shared, and another user can be given specific permissions to the folder.You can change the default properties of the My Documents folder. To gain access to these configurable properties, click Start, right-click My Documents, and then click Properties.
Changing Folder LocationYou can change the location of the My Documents folder from its usual position within Documents and Settingsuser_nameMy Documents (where user_name is the user's logon name). You may want to change the location of the folder when you want to move the storage of documents to:
A local drive other than the one on which programs reside, so that programs and user data are stored separately.
A network share, to prevent the loss of data if the local disk becomes corrupted. Note: If you choose to remove My Documents to a server, be sure that both the local computer and the server are configured for caching.To change the location of the My Documents folder:
Click Start, right-click the My Documents folder, and then click Properties.
On the Target tab, click Move.
In the Select a Destination dialog box, browse to the desired location, and then click OK twice. Customizing Folder AttributesThe My Documents folder, like all other folders, has four important attributes that can be customized:To change the attributes of the My Documents folder:
Click Start, right-click the My Documents folder, and then click Properties.
On the General tab, click Advanced, select or clear the desired attributes, and then click OK twice. (The Advanced button does not appear on drives formatted with a FAT file system.) If you do need to configure security parameters at the folder level, use the Security tab in the My Documents Properties sheet.