Pin Internet sites to the Start Menu

[GeeN]

Hi All, ​

This is my first mail to the forum, and I hope you will be able to help me on this.
I was looking for an answer all over the net without luck so far.​

I would very much like to search specific internet sites directly from the start menu in win7. For instance, I could search PubMed (medical research database) or dictionaries that I like.​

According to Microsoft there is a simple option for that in win7 Pro.
I only need to "Pin Internet sites to the Start Menu"
See this technet page: Group Policy for Windows Search, Browse, and Organize​

The only thing I should do is to enable the appropriate group policy:​

Pin Internet sites to the Search again links and the Start Menu.
And to set up the sites according to the simple rule.

However, sites that are set this way do show up NEITHER in search again links NOR in the start menu.​

You could take a look at this site as well, where it is shown with photos how it should work in real life:
Pin Any search site to Start menu and Windows Explorer​

Restart does not help, I checked the registry it shows the same setting as the Group Policy editor and everithing looks OK except, that sites that are set this way do NOT show up in the start menu.​

I removed "See more results" from the start menu and added Search the Internet link to the Start Menu without any problem. I could also set up a "Custom Instant Search Internet search provider" group policy, so I have at least one internet site that I can search from the net. ​

Federated search is not good for me because I would like to have my results in the browser (and federated search works only for certain search providers).​

I would highly appreciate, if someone could tell me what setting can prevent this group policy to take effect and to show me the search opptions. ​

Your help would make my work much easier.
Thank you in advance.
GeeN​

 

[tbone1321]

First Welcome to the forum.
The Best and fastest way to do it is right click when your start menu is up select properties. Then click customize then add your favorites bar in there.

 

[tbone1321]

Another way to do it is copy the link right click on desktop and click New>Shortcut then paste the link and click next then name it then say finish. Last just drag the link to the start orb and your done. hope this helps

 

[CassieFWinTeam]

Hi GeeN - You can pin a website to the taskbar by dragging the website (works for a shortcut of a file or folder as well) to the taskbar, and the website will be pinned to the taskbar -Pin a program to the taskbar.

Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Cassandra
Microsoft Windows Outreach

 

[GeeN]

Thank you, but you misunderstood me.
I have my favorites in the Start Menu.
Please take a look at the links that I mentioned in my original post.
As I mentioned, I would like to search specific sites like PubMed or a Dictionary directly from the start menu search box.
This is an inbuildt function of win7.
See group policy editor too.
Also, here are two images to demonstrate my question again.
Thank you.

 

[GeeN]

Thank you for your answers, but you still misunderstand me.

To put it simply, Win7 can do this:
In the Start Menu search box write e.g.: "Neuron"
Click on the Search Wikipedia above the search box.
And it takes you to this internet site (with the default browser):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron

If you search internet databases frequently (like PubMed), it is a great time saver.

Let me rephrase it.
Go to start menu, in the search box write: gpedit.msc
This gives you the group policy editor.
Go here: User Configuration – Administrative Templates – Windows Components –
Windows Explorer - Pin Internet search sites to the “Search again” links and the Start menu

This policy setting lets you add Internet or intranet search site links to search different locations using the search term in the Search box.
You need to specify: A name for the link and the URL of the search site in OpenSearch format with {searchTerms} replacing the query string.
Example: http://www.example.com/results.aspx?q={searchTerms}

Configuring this policy allows you to add Internet or intranet sites links in the Start menu. Results are returned in the default web browser.

So my question is why I cannot see my links in the start menu after setting up everything according to MS instructions.

Can anyone help me?

 

[fatedquest]

I understand what you're asking and I don't have the answer for it.

However, since you will need to fire up your web browser to access the site anyway, why don't you just use the searchbox in your web browser?

Another option I can think of is to enable the "Links" toolbar in the Superbar. You can just type the work you want and it will automatically fire up your default web browser which in turn would automatically search the term for you.

 

[GeeN]

To fatedquest.

Thanks for your answer.
Actually I would really like to minimize the number of key-strokes for searches, because I need to look up information on the web frequently. Since what I asked about is theoretically a build-in feature it would seem to be the most obvious choice. Nevertheless, I will need other methods if that is not feasible.

What did you mean by: " You can just type the word you want and it will automatically fire up your default web browser which in turn would automatically search the term for you. "

Where would you type that word? How would that automatically fire up my default browser? Thanks a lot.

 

[Brink]

Hello Geen,

You could create separate internet shortcuts that you can pin separately to the Start Menu or taskbar.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[GeeN]

Hello Brink,
Thank you for your answer.
Do you think you could help me with my original problem?
Thank you,
GeeN

 

[Brink]

You might see if these may be able to help with this.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/14687-start-menu-add-search-connectors-start-menu-search.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/742-windows-7-search-federation-providers.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/557-start-menu-add-search-internet-link.html

 

[GeeN]

Brink,
Thank you for your answer and links, but I knew about those options and those options are not what I was talking about. But I think you know that.

Is it really possible that nobody knows the answer to this.
This is in Win 7's group policy.
There should be a reason for that.

Does anyone knows who I should ask about this?

Thanks,
GeeN

 

[surfasb]

That is strange that this won't work for you.

Make sure the "Add Search link" under User Configuration – Administrative Templates – Start Menu and Taskbar is also turned on.

I have this setup on my machine to query wikepedia and technet.

 

[GeeN]

surfasb

Thanks a lot for your reply.
"Add Search Internet link to Start Menu" is enabled, and I can search the internet via this option.
But, although the option set up in gpedit.msc, I cannot "Pin Internet search sites to the “Search again” links and to the Start Menu" and cannot search in other internet seach sites like wiki, PubMed or technet directly. Why ???