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 Disabling "Personalized Menus"

Updated 12/02/03
Purpose NaturallySpeaking allows one to "Speak" the menu options in most Windows menus.  It can be frustrating and annoying to have to "Wait" for all the options to appear.  These instruction describe the process for turning off "Personalized Menus", the source of the delay.
Problem Source
 Personalized menus are the menus that remember the choices you've made from the menu and show you an abbreviated version of the menu that leaves out the choices you haven't used. The feature was introduced in Windows 2000 and included as defaults in Windows 2000, ME, and XP as well as MS Office 2000 and XP.  Some folks hate them and some love them.
Disabling Personalized Menus in Windows XP
 You won't find the option to turn them on and off if you're using the regular XP view of the Start Menu. However, you can if you switch to Classic Start Menu view. Here's how:

  1. Right click the task bar and select Properties.
  2. Click the Start Menu tab.
  3. Click the Classic Start Menu option button, then click the Customize button.
  4. Under Advanced Start Menu Options, scroll down to Use Personalized Menus. Uncheck the box labeled Use Personalized Menus.
  5. Click OK.
Note: These steps only turn off Personalized Menus controlled by Windows.  Microsoft Office has its own controls for Personalized Menus and must be configured separately.

(Based on a tip in WinXPnews™ E-Zine)
Disabling Personalized Menus in MS Office 2000 and XP
 To disable Personalized Menus in all of the Microsoft Office programs:
  1. In MS Word on the Tools menu, click Customize, and then click the Options tab.
  2. To show all the commands on the menus, clear the "Menus show recently used commands first" check box.
Note: To show only basic and frequently used commands on short versions of the menus, select the Menus show recently used commands first check box. To show all the menu commands on the menu after a brief delay when you rest the pointer on an open menu, select the Show full menus after a short delay check box.



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