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No frequent programs in start menu #2263
Description
Describe the bug
Hi,
first of all, thank you for this software.
This is what I experienced:
When I switch to Windows 7 style (or Classic with two columns style) under Start Menu Style in Settings then when I open the star menu (with either windows button on keyboard or by clicking the start button with mouse) there are no recent programs listed, only the pinned icons (by default only one: Start Menu (Windows)).
In Classic style recent programs and pinned icons both show up.
After trying it a bunch of times and after I searched the settings, I noticed that in Settings in Main Menu tab under Show recent or frequent programs "Frequent programs" is selected. I changed it to "Recent programs" and then recent programs showed up in all styles. I switched it back to Frequent programs and now no programs show up in any style (none of the styles).
Were / are these settings stored separately, in a style dependent way and but now changing the settings apply it to all styles, or how is it possible this split behavior?
And how is Frequent programs calculated? What can cause it to none show up? And how can I fix it?
(I have installed this a long time ago, but haven't used this PC for like years which could be why this happens here.)
Area of issue
Start menu
To reproduce
- ( Install Open-Shell five years ago then turn on the PC only twice a year. ; )
- Switch Show recent or frequent programs to "Frequent programs"
- Open the Open-Shell Start Menu
Expected behavior
Some programs to show up in the list, the most frequently used once (no matter how infrequent they might be).
Open-Shell version
4.4.196
Windows version
Window 10 22H2
Additional context
I don't see any separate Max frequent programs settings or frequency threshold, and Max recent programs is set to 10.
Activity
ge0rdi commentedon Jul 17, 2025
Frequent programs are maintained by Windows itself.
You should have
Show most used appsWindows setting enabled (inPersonalization->Start).Also (if that one is greyed) you may need to enable
Allow Windows to track app launches to improve Start and search results(inPrivacy & security->General).After that
Open-Shellshould display most frequently used programs.David-Hari commentedon Aug 1, 2025
Hi,
I tried the above but still it does not show in recent order.
For example, when I type "be" I get:
When I would expect "Beyond Compare" to be the first one as I use it by far the most out of those 3.
ge0rdi commentedon Aug 1, 2025
Please, provide log from
Open-Shell. It should contain information about enumerated frequent programs.David-Hari commentedon Aug 1, 2025
StartMenuLog.txt
ge0rdi commentedon Aug 1, 2025
Hmm, do you have
Frequent programsselected inShow recent or frequent programsOpen-Shellsetting?Because I don't see any records related to frequent programs enumeration in the log.
David-Hari commentedon Aug 1, 2025
I have "Show recent or frequent programs" set to "Don't show".
When I change it to "Frequent programs" then I see a list of frequent programs in the start menu, but I don't want to see that. I only want the search results to be sorted by frequency.
Also, strangely, I see programs in that list that I have rarely used (such as Snipping Tool). So it must be calculating it wrong.
ge0rdi commentedon Aug 1, 2025
Actual ticket is about frequent programs in Start menu, not search results.
Will be great to not mix unrelated things in one ticket.
Make sure you have
Track frequency of useinSearch Boxtag in settings.With that
Open-Shellshould track program usage and then sort search results accordingly.David-Hari commentedon Aug 1, 2025
Ah, sorry. I did a google search to find this and didn't read the description well enough. I shall create a new issue.