How to add icons to the left of Start Menu?

The left side of the Start Menu is for frequently used programs. The list is populated automatically and is limited to 6 entries. This is a very poor design decision, BTW: the menu itself is resizable vertically, but regardless of its current size the list is limited to 6 entries. I hope Microsoft eventually figures out that the size of that list should be flexible.

It is probably possible to manipulate the contents of that list manually, since the stats that define frequently used programs have to be stored somewhere. I just don't know where. In any case, there's no immediately available GUI-level feature for adding programs to that list.

P.S. Another bizarre design decision by MS is removal of combined "recently opened documents" list. It was an extremely useful feature. The current per-program lists are significantly less convenient and go against the much-touted "document first" design principle.

AndreyT said:

The left side of the Start Menu is for frequently used programs. The list is populated automatically and is limited to 6 entries. This is a very poor design decision, BTW: the menu itself is resizable vertically, but regardless of its current size the list is limited to 6 entries. I hope Microsoft eventually figures out that the size of that list should be flexible.

It is probably possible to manipulate the contents of that list manually, since the stats that define frequently used programs have to be stored somewhere. I just don't know where. In any case, there's no immediately available GUI-level feature for adding programs to that list.

P.S. Another bizarre design decision by MS is removal of combined "recently opened documents" list. It was an extremely useful feature. The current per-program lists are significantly less convenient and go againot the famed "document first" design principle.

It is indeed a lame design; taking more away from what the consumer can actually customize himself. It looks like they want you to use the tiles for programs and whatnot and the left side play as the secondary list.