# Why are some programs in Start-\>Programs menu highlighted brown in winxp?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-programs-in-start-programs-menu-highlighted-brown-in-winxp/145844>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 31, 2002, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-programs-in-start-programs-menu-highlighted-brown-in-winxp/145844 "2002-12-31T07:48:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-programs-in-start-programs-menu-highlighted-brown-in-winxp/145844/1 "2002-12-31T07:48:21Z")

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When I go to the Program File listing some folders/programs and/or subfolders/programs are highlighted in brown. It doesn’t seem to be the most recently used because I havent’ used many that are highlighted. It also seems to change around alot. What is this?

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**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-programs-in-start-programs-menu-highlighted-brown-in-winxp/145844/2 "2002-12-31T08:20:26Z")

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Those are programs that have been recently installed. They will return to the normal color when you activate the program via the Start ment.

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**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-programs-in-start-programs-menu-highlighted-brown-in-winxp/145844/3 "2002-12-31T13:51:14Z")

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I find the highlighting annoying, so I turned it off. To turn it off, right click on the tool bar, and select Properties. Click on the Start Menu tab and then on \<Customize\>. Click on the Advanced tab, and you’ll see a check box for “Highlight newly installed programs”.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-programs-in-start-programs-menu-highlighted-brown-in-winxp/145844/4 "2002-12-31T13:55:37Z")

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I hate that annoying menu thing where it will collapse programs you don’t use very much, but keep visible the ones you have used recently - and I hate it because it DOESN’T WORK! It shows tons of programs I have NEVER used, and hides most of the programs I am looking for at the time!

So I turned that stupid feature off.