Start menu program shortcuts

[Chuckster]

Is there a way for start menu shortcuts to appear only if the following software were installed?

Say, for example, you have a start menu template comprising of:
Microsoft Office 2003
SIMS
etc

But on a workstation there is only SIMS on it but not MS Office. Can you make the start menu show only the shortcuts to whatever programs are available?

I know this can be done on a CC3. Was wondering if it can be done on a vanilla.

[powdarrmonkey]

Not without middleware, as far as I know.

[Chuckster]

Do you know of any particular middleware software?

[maniac]

The way I achieved this was by using a VBS script to copy shortcuts from a shortcut bank on the netlogon share at startup to a local directory on the machine. The script was written to copy a basic set of icons, and then a supplimentary set depending on what OU the machine was in which contained icons for specific software installed on that group of machines. I then re-directed the start menu to point to the local location so you only get icons for the programs that are installed. I think this is simelar to the way CC3 does it.

I expect a script could be produced that checks for the existance of specific EXE files and copies the relevant icons if you didn't want to do it by OU, but this would be a little more complex than the way I did it.

Mike.

[webman]

The way CC3 does it is to hide the shortcuts where it's target executable that don't exist - shortcuts with the "Hidden" attribute won't show up on the Start menu. I think it would be easy enough to create an AutoIt script/program to do the same thing if you're familiar with scripting.

[K.C.Leblanc]

You could add Digital Architects Software - Orphans Remover to the log on script. Only use this if you're using mandatory profiles.

Or just do a bit of scripting to see if a particular piece of software is present and if so copy the link over.

[maniac]

The way CC3 does it is to hide the shortcuts where it's target executable that don't exist - shortcuts with the "Hidden" attribute won't show up on the Start menu. I think it would be easy enough to create an AutoIt script/program to do the same thing if you're familiar with scripting.

Never thought of changing the shortcut attributes to hide unwanted ones, that's a clever way of doing it. Might have to have a play see if I can achieve this with a VBS script as it'll be much easier than copying icons like my old script does, and much less network traffic generated as well.

Mike.