Boyink! - Spring Forward on the Web

I noted this morning that for some reason the idiotic MS Office “smart menus” and menu animation were back on my desktop. 

Since I haven’t touched these settings in the year and a half-plus that I’ve had this system, I can only assume that the recent Windows update took the liberty of re-enabling these time and CPU-sucking options.

So FYI - here’s how to disable the “smart menus” that do nothing but hide the menu option you’re looking for:

How to Control How Menus Are Displayed

You can control how menus are displayed in Office programs. To do this, follow these steps:

• 1. Start any Office program.
• 2. On the Tools menu, click Customize.
• 3. Click the Options tab.
• 4. Click to select or click to clear the Always show full menus check box.
• 5. Click Close.

NOTE: When you click to select or click to clear the Always show full menus check box, this setting affects all your Office programs. Full MS KB Article >>

To lose the “animated menus” that do nothing but delay the menus from loading quickly:

• 1. Right-click anywhere on the Windows Desktop.
• 2. “Click Properties”.
• 3. Click “Appearance”.
• 4. Click “Effects”.
• 5. Un-check “Use the following transition effect for menus and tooltips.”

Now Microsoft—where can I send the bill for the time involved in setting my system back to the way I had it?

Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.

1. nate Klaiber on April 17, 2006

   Reason number 3456556 why I will never use Microsoft as long as I life.

   Sorry, had to say it :) I doubt youll see any check from Microsoft. If they had to pay out for their stupidity, they wouldn’t exist as a company any longer

2. Michael Boyink (Author) on April 17, 2006

   Yeah…I knew I wouldn’t get much sympathy from my blog audience over an MS issue…;)

   But overall, I gotta say that once I setup a MS-based system and get it configured and tweaked I spend very little time messing with OS-related issues (which I *hate* messing with).

   Everytime I hear guys talking about Linux and the getting it installed and configured with all the periphials working it sounds like a few days of downtime to me…;)

   I also prefer to be on a system that’s setup as close as possible to the majority of my clients, so XP it is.

3. nate Klaiber on April 20, 2006

   I would agree on the linux part. It is beautiful once its setup - but getting it setup can be a royal pain (Depending on the distribution).

   I was on a PC for several years when I worked for [url=http://www.teamce.com]http://www.teamce.com[/url] - simply because they already had software bought for the PC, so it wasnt really by choice. When the hard drive failed, I bought a Mac.

   I understand your wanting to be on a system thats as close to what the clients using, but…Why? I would rather work on a superior OS, software than be on the same level as clients. (dont mind my defensive attitude, I work in an IT department of three, and I am the lone Mac soldier).

   Web wise - I absolutely HATE using windows. Even with apache installed over the sub-par IIS. For that, Ill take my *nux.

4. Michael Boyink (Author) on April 20, 2006

   Why?  Simple: Better compatibility with file formats (to this day every time I have to trade files with someone on a Mac it seems like there are issues) and easier to trouble-shoot problems when both parties are on the same OS.

   Web-wise I run a WAMP setup, but rarely.  I’m usually building and configuring sites on a hosted account.  I am generally happier when the sites aren’t hosted on a Windows account, I’ll grant you that.

   And…I’m getting older and more set in my ways…;)  I know Windows and can do most OS-level operations with my eyes shut.  For the most part the OS is “invisible” to me, and XP has been very stable, so I don’t have much motivation to learn something new at this point in the game.

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