We finally got my hubby a new Toshiba laptop with Windows 7. We noticed one
very inconvenient difference and wondered if perhaps you could help us find
where Run is now.
On the XP, you click on Start and Run is in the option right behind Search.
We use this often for such things as MSConfig, Regedit, CMD, SFC, etc. Now, we
don’t know where to find this valuable tool. Is there a Run feature on Windows 7? If
so, how can one find it?
In this excerpt from
Answercast #12, I show how to add the familiar Run command to the Start
menu and also suggest a much faster way to activate Run on your machine.
Become a Patron of Ask Leo! and go ad-free!
Does Windows 7 have a Run command?
“Absolutely! there is a Run feature on Windows 7.”
What I recommend you do, instead of looking for it in the Start Menu (which
I’ll tell you about in a minute) is this:
- Windows Key + R
Much like typing a Ctrl-R. If you hold down the Windows key and click on R
(or press R), it will bring up the Run dialog box that you’re so familiar
with.
I use that all the time for many of the programs that you just listed
yourself. You can get it whether it’s visible in the Windows menu or not.
Windows key + R is the Run command.
Configuring the Start menu
As for getting it back on your Start menu, what you need to do is
right-click on your Start menu and click on Properties. In Customize, you’ll
see a long list of things that can be turned on or off on your Start
menu.
One of them is, in fact, the Run command. It’s a simple checkbox. You turn
it on and, after hitting OK on the dialog box, the Run command is once again
visible in the Start menu.
It’s simply an option.
The reason that it defaults to Off (I believe) is that for the average
computer user, it’s actually slightly more confusing when they want to run a
program.
For those who know that they want the Run command, it’s very easy to go turn
it on.
There is another option you didn’t mention: click on Start (the Orb) and type the command you want to run and hit enter. By default, when you hit Start, the focus is in the “Search programs and files” box. If you enter any of the commands such as Cmd or RegEdit, they will be run when you hit enter. I think that’s one of the reasons that Run is not shown by default.
Here is RUN:
Click Start > click All Programs > click Accessories and there is RUN in the list