Windows 7 Tip – The Case of the Missing Run Box

If you are an old hand with Windows like myself you may have become accustomed to using the old “Run box” found by click on “Start” and then “Run” since Windows 95. However, with Windows Vista and Windows 7 it disappeared from the Start Menu in favour of getting people to use the newly included  universal search box found at the bottom.

If you have an ongoing need for the old Run box in Windows Vista or Windows 7 there are a couple of things you can do to get around it:

1. Use the keyboard shortcut of “Window + R” which will bring up the Run box,
2. Re-enable the Run item in the Start Menu by:
   1. Right clicking on the taskbar,
   2. Selecting “Properties”,
   3. Clicking on the “Start Menu” tab,
   4. Click the “Customize” button,
   5. Scroll down the list until you see “Run command” and tick the box,
   6. Click “OK” then “OK” again.

Windows 7 - Re-enable the Run command

Windows 7 - Start Menu with Run command enabled

Old habits die hard and sometimes we need to revert to the older methods to keep things going smoothly but I would still encourage you to consider using the universal search box as it is great for quickly finding and executing applications.