Q. How can I toggle the Start Menu display of Control Panel, My Computer, My Documents, My Music, and My Pictures via the Windows XP registry?

The HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced registry key contains the Value Names that enable and disable the display of the subject icons on the Start Menu, per the following table:

Icon	Value Name
Control Panel	Start_ShowControlPanel
My Documents	Start_ShowMyDocs
My Pictures	Start_ShowMyPics
My Music	Start_ShowMyMusic

A Data Value of 0 hides the icon, a 1 shows it, and a 2 causes it to expand when the cursor hovers over it.

To use the command-line to hide Control Panel:

1. Open a CMD.EXE window.

2. Type the following command and press Enter:

REG ADD HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced /V Start_ShowControlPanel /T REG_DWORD /F /D 0

3. Log off and log on for the changes to become effective.