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From: jmatt on 26 May 2010 07:47
On May 24, 11:31 pm, ever90...(a)mypacks.net wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've done numerous web and usenet searches over the past few days and
> come up short, and am hoping now to get somebody's input...
>
> I am not a C programmer, but am looking for a registry or command line
> technique, or a small 3rd party command line tool that performs the
> right-click -> Sort By Name feature on the Windows XP Programs menu.
> (Or similarly, the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" Control Panel's
> Sort button.)  It would obviously be helpful if it worked for newer
> OS's, too.  From what I can tell, there is no built-in way to do this,
> without performing additional work like rebooting the computer.  I
> also found a VBS script that does an actual (bubble?) sort on the
> shortcuts, which is also something I want to avoid.  From using
> SysInternals' Process Monitor, the best I can tell is that the Sort
> functionality is built into explorer.exe, but I have no idea if this
> API call is even exposed for programmers.
>
Sort Menus Alphabetically
http://www.theeldergeek.com/sort_menus_alphabetically.htm

Menu Sorter
http://www.cooltoys.org.uk/products/menu_sorter/

From: mscir on 26 May 2010 22:59
On 5/26/2010 4:47 AM, jmatt wrote:
> On May 24, 11:31 pm, ever90...(a)mypacks.net wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I've done numerous web and usenet searches over the past few days and
>> come up short, and am hoping now to get somebody's input...
>>
>> I am not a C programmer, but am looking for a registry or command line
>> technique, or a small 3rd party command line tool that performs the
>> right-click -> Sort By Name feature on the Windows XP Programs menu.
>> (Or similarly, the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" Control Panel's
>> Sort button.) It would obviously be helpful if it worked for newer
>> OS's, too. From what I can tell, there is no built-in way to do this,
>> without performing additional work like rebooting the computer. I
>> also found a VBS script that does an actual (bubble?) sort on the
>> shortcuts, which is also something I want to avoid. From using
>> SysInternals' Process Monitor, the best I can tell is that the Sort
>> functionality is built into explorer.exe, but I have no idea if this
>> API call is even exposed for programmers.
>>
> Sort Menus Alphabetically
> http://www.theeldergeek.com/sort_menus_alphabetically.htm
>
> Menu Sorter
> http://www.cooltoys.org.uk/products/menu_sorter/

I emailed the cooltoys guy asking for the source code, I may be able to
write a small Visual Basic 6 app that did the job that doesn't open any
windows, just runs, does the sort, then closes itself. If he gives me
the source code I'll write the app and test it on my XP machine and let
you know if I get it working.



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news(a)netfront.net ---
From: ever90321 on 27 May 2010 13:51
On May 26, 10:59 pm, mscir <ms...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

> > Menu Sorter
> >http://www.cooltoys.org.uk/products/menu_sorter/
>
> I emailed the cooltoys guy asking for the source code, I may be able to
> write a small Visual Basic 6 app that did the job that doesn't open any
> windows, just runs, does the sort, then closes itself. If he gives me
> the source code I'll write the app and test it on my XP machine and let
> you know if I get it working.
>
> --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: n...(a)netfront.net ---

Mike,

Wow, I really appreciate the help. I am in the process of contacting
James @ Cooltoys myself. His program sort of does what I want, with
the exception of a /silent switch as you noted. The other problem?
It does't work so well. I tried dragging a single folder out of place
and running Menu Sorter, and it generally does nothing at all. This
is on a WinXP SP3 computer...no telling what effect it has on Vista or
7. I am curious what James has to say about this. If at its heart,
Menu Sorter is simply a dog, then the source code won't make much
difference. The final problem, which I'm sure is just bad luck, is
that the line of A-Squared/Ikarus malware detectors flag it as
containing Trojan-Downloader.Win32.VB!IK. I checked the program at
http://www.virustotal.com and http://virusscan.jotti.org/en, and these
are the *only* programs to flag it, and I also ran my own tests that
judge it as clean.

Thanks,
Todd
From: mscir on 27 May 2010 20:35
On May 27, 10:51 am, ever90...(a)mypacks.net wrote:
> On May 26, 10:59 pm, mscir <ms...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > > Menu Sorter
> > >http://www.cooltoys.org.uk/products/menu_sorter/
>
> > I emailed the cooltoys guy asking for the source code, I may be able to
> > write a small Visual Basic 6 app that did the job that doesn't open any
> > windows, just runs, does the sort, then closes itself. If he gives me
> > the source code I'll write the app and test it on my XP machine and let
> > you know if I get it working.
>
> > --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: n...(a)netfront.net ---
>
> Mike,
>
> Wow, I really appreciate the help. I am in the process of contacting
> James @ Cooltoys myself. His program sort of does what I want, with
> the exception of a /silent switch as you noted. The other problem?
> It does't work so well. I tried dragging a single folder out of place
> and running Menu Sorter, and it generally does nothing at all. This
> is on a WinXP SP3 computer...no telling what effect it has on Vista or
> 7. I am curious what James has to say about this. If at its heart,
> Menu Sorter is simply a dog, then the source code won't make much
> difference. The final problem, which I'm sure is just bad luck, is
> that the line of A-Squared/Ikarus malware detectors flag it as
> containing Trojan-Downloader.Win32.VB!IK. I checked the program athttp://www.virustotal.comandhttp://virusscan.jotti.org/en, and these
> are the *only* programs to flag it, and I also ran my own tests that
> judge it as clean.
>
> Thanks,
> Todd

Here's the reply from James, who released the Cool Toys sort program:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: James (Cool Toys) <james(a)cooltoys.org.uk>
Subject: Re: Cool Toys - Contact Form - would you mind making the
source code available
To: "Mike Scirocco" <mscir(a)yahoo.com>
Date: Thursday, May 27, 2010, 12:41 PM

Hi Mike,

The Menu Sorter utility is a bit crude really, as all it does it
delete
everything under this registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
\MenuOrder

Which is what Windows uses to store the sort order - I seem to
remember
Windows doesn't re-read the values from the registry all of the time
though, i.e. rebooting may be necessary for the changes to be picked-
up.

Hope that helps

James
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is this an approach you want to try, and if so do you require a VB
program to accomplish it?

Mike
From: ever90321 on 1 Jun 2010 16:54
On May 27, 8:35 pm, mscir <msciro...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> On May 27, 10:51 am, ever90...(a)mypacks.net wrote:
>
>
>
> Here's the reply from James, who released the Cool Toys sort program:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: James (Cool Toys) <ja...(a)cooltoys.org.uk>
> Subject: Re: Cool Toys - Contact Form - would you mind making the
> source code available
> To: "Mike Scirocco" <ms...(a)yahoo.com>
> Date: Thursday, May 27, 2010, 12:41 PM
>
> Hi Mike,
>
> The Menu Sorter utility is a bit crude really, as all it does it
> delete
> everything under this registry key:
>
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
> \MenuOrder
>
> Which is what Windows uses to store the sort order - I seem to
> remember
> Windows doesn't re-read the values from the registry all of the time
> though, i.e. rebooting may be necessary for the changes to be picked-
> up.
>
> Hope that helps
>
> James
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Is this an approach you want to try, and if so do you require a VB
> program to accomplish it?
>
> Mike

Hey, James sent me a copy of that email as well. But unfortunately I
was trying that days before I posted here, and it doesn't work. At
least it doesn't work instantly, like clicking "Sort" or "Sort by
name" within Windows XP, which is what I'm trying to do. I forget
which board it came from, but someone else suggested
http://www.lujosoft.net/_content/_utilities/AutoSortMenu.html. This
seems like a further step backward, though, because not only does it
not work instantly, but as a .NET program it requires an outright
installation, and I'm trying to stay within a small footprint. I do
want to contact the LuJuSoft guy, in case he has any ideas.

To recap, the problem is that while Windows probably also deletes the
\Menu or \Menu2 key in the registry, it likely triggers an instant
rebuild of the key, which is otherwise requires by a reboot. I'm
looking for the API to do that without rebooting, if it's even
possible. I'll post again the next time I have news.

Thanks!
Todd
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