On a Windows 8 machine, after installing Visual Studio, Office, SQL Server, VLC etc… the start screen is a mass clutter of unneeded shortcuts such as readme, shortcuts to homepages, various tools etc…
Is there a setting, or something, which prevents setup from adding all the new application shortcuts to the start screen? I still want them listed in the All Apps so I can search, and add the applications I need.
Windows – Prevent applications from adding to start screen on install
shortcutsstart-screenwindows 8
Related Solutions
Check folder options Search Tab, be sure "find partial matches" is ticked.
Control Panel > Folder Options
Shortcuts to Modern apps
A little hacking around (and re-enforced by this article) led me to the following:
All Modern UI Programs are stored in the same place: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\ (found out by doing an open file location from the task manager on a Modern UI app).
Since it all Modern UI apps are stored there, there is nothing that prevents windows from simply assuming that everything in that folder is in fact a modern UI application, and follows that convention.
The article I linked to above seems to support this conclusion.
In short, there are no shortcuts to Modern UI apps, it just enumerates the contents inside C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\
Best Answer
No you cannot as it is the program itself who determines what gets installed in the "start menu". Just as on previous versions of windows, you have no influence over this as it is all legacy code.
I do have a suggestion however but it is not perfect.
go to your start menu folder:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menuand change the permissions of it so that the system can no longer write to the folder. That way nothing will get added. Have not tried this but should work. The negative point is that NO icons will be added, so not even the one for your app.If this is not a solution, you can always just manage your start screen in that same folder.