Remove Default Shortcuts from Start Menu
Out of the box the Windows Mobile Smartphone’s Start Menu is cluttered with useless shortcuts for AT&T Mall, AT&T Music, MediaNet and other applications you will never use. Good news, you can remove them.
You will have to App Unlock your phone using the MoDaCo GPS Hack or SDA Application Unlocker.
Once your Windows Mobile Smartphone is App Unlocked, connect it to your Windows PC using ActiveSync. Browse to your Windows Mobile Smartphone using Windows Explorer; Navigate to your Windows Mobile Smartphone’s /Windows/Start Menu/
You will a file listing of all the Folders and Shortcuts displayed in your Start Menu. Select the Folders and Shortcuts you wish to remove and delete.
Presto - your Windows Mobile Smartphone’s Start Menu is clean and clutter free!
If you can’t see your Windows directory after Application Unlocking, click here.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Nice! Now can you tell me how to get rid of the pre-loaded game demo’s that came on my BJ II??
April 17th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Cycle,
What “game demos” are you talking about? I have AT&T and they preloaded my phone with a Games Folder that has Solitaire and Bubble Breaker. As far as I can tell they both appear to be full vesions.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I’m sorry, I should have been more specific. In my java file there are some demo games and app’s that I’d like to get rid of:
Brain Challenge
My Space Mobile
People Mobile Demo
Midnight Pool
Any ideas about how to get those off my phone?? Thanks in advance,
Mark
April 19th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
The place to start looking is the /Windows/java/suites.idx … This appears to be the file that keeps an index of all your installed java apps. Note, if you delete the contents of the file, no java apps will be listed in your Java application list on the phone — and if you try to install a java app, it wont show up.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
i would really like to do this but the windows folder is the only folder not shown on my computer. It is shown when i access it on my blackjack 2 tho. Also, i have tried looking in hidden folders and my phone is application unlocked. any advice would be great.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
I have tried but I am running into the same issue as chipW. I don’t see the Windows folder nor the Start Menu anywhere. I am using Vista Business with Windows Mobile Device Center. Any thoughts?
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Figured it out, you need to use ActiveSync, it will not work with Windows Mobile Device Center. If you use ActiveSync you will see everything and modify all the content in the start menu
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
gfortezza - very interesting! did you end up running activesync on a win xp machine? or were you able to install active sync on your Vista machine?
May 4th, 2008 at 11:12 am
the active sync equivalent for vista is device center. So is there no workaround?
May 4th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
chipw,
Please try using Total Commander — it is linked to from Applications > Sync Tools > Active Sync … See the bold section re: Vista.
Please let us know how it works out for you - Thanks!
May 11th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I too am having problems viewing the start menu via activesync. I have XP, but there is no option to select the start menu…any suggestions would help.
May 18th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
i installed total commander, my bj2 showed up in my computer when i connected it but i cant find it in total commander to change the files. any help?
May 21st, 2008 at 1:00 am
I am still having no luck with Active Sync, any help? I press “explore” and I can’t find
May 21st, 2008 at 7:49 am
Judge, Have you Application Unlocked your phone? Which method did you use?
May 21st, 2008 at 7:21 pm
yes. I used the one from macodo or whatever. and followed the directions to the “t” ….
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:31 am
I don’t know what is going on. I have syncd the phone both with my vista computer using total commander, and xp with my laptop with activesync, but I still can not find the windows folder. I have done everything else to the phone that I would like already, like hack the theme and mp3 ringtone etc, my phone is unlocked with the modaco gps hack. Any help please?
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Ok. I figured out that I had to go to folder options and click on “show hidden folders”
YAY!
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
OHMYMY,
Excellent find! Thanks!
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:37 am
Thanks again
July 15th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Hey Guys,
So i found the Hidden files, know ive moved around stuff, my question is how can i put things in the start menu the way i would like them, example, A. explorer B. Settings C. Calculator etc…. please help a lost soul
July 16th, 2008 at 8:55 am
deadprez,
that is different hack that requires a registry editor .. i wanted to make a CAB file for it but theres not real way to do it since everyone will want their Start Menu setup differently.
Here is how to do it: http://tinyurl.com/reorder-start-menu
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Thanks david:)
July 31st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
This worked great! This is very quickly becoming one of my favorite sites.
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
hey guys….. i dont understand how to do this…. i installed the modaco but how do u get to windows/start menu?
August 4th, 2008 at 8:12 am
allstarr, You connect your phone to our PC using your USB cable and ActiveSync/WMDC (depending on if youre usin XP or Vista), then on your PC, goto My Computer, Mobile Device and find the Windows directory on your phone.
September 1st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Oh Oh. I screwed up. I think I accidentally deleted the messaging shortcut in the Start Menu, now my email/sms button isn’t working. Can someone tell me where to find the .exe for this so I can recreate the shortcut? I looked in the /windows folder, but there’s just too much stuff in there, I probably passed right over it. Thanks
September 10th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
hey i need some help
i want to remove
these java apps from my phone
Mobile Banking
My- Cast 5 Weather
Movies powered by imdb
Mobitv
People Moible Demo
Myspace Mobile
September 10th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
add brain challenge
Midnight Pool
the Sims Bowling
Ms. Pac Man demo by namco
September 20th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I found the Windows file and selected the shortcuts I want to remove, but whenever I try to delete them, I get an error message saying the the file is read-only or in use. When I go to properties, all the files are listed as ‘Read-Only’. Any way to change this?
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Fikii, What version of Windows Mobile OS are you running? 6.0 or 6.1? Have you application unlocked your phone at all?
October 1st, 2008 at 9:42 am
David I’m in the same boat as Fikii.
I’m using Total Commander in WM 6.1 and it does not seem to allow deleting these links.
I was under the impression that WM 6.1 does not need to be App Unlocked.
Any help would be great! I really want to clean up my Start Menu.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:33 am
I take it back David. I’ve figured it out! =P
October 1st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
topher - can you share with us how you did it?
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 pm
so i can delete the media mall file since its useless
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:26 am
I am in DJs shoes. I deleted the sms/email shortcut and can’t figure how to put it back on. Any help would be appreciated.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I am on 6.1 and I managed to find where the files and shortcuts are stored, but they are all read only’s and won’t let me delete them! Anyone know how to change this…I’d really like to get rid of a few things (like the demo games).
Does this not work with 6.1??
December 17th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
trevorr, have you tried Application unlocking your phone after upgrading to WM 6.1? Try using the SDA Unlocker to unlock your Blackjack II, and then see if you can delete the shortcuts.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:58 am
I also would like to know how to reorder my start menu icons. David, your link only takes me to the forum, not to a specific topic. Could someone give me the right link? Thanks.