Is there a safe way to extend the start menu on Windows XP programmatically?

I've managed to write a simple program that simply adds a textbox and a button to the start menu. I've done this using a combination of C# with Windows.Forms controls, and Win32 API like SetParent and FindWindow. The controls work absolutely fine, however, I am unsure as to whether this method of using Managed code to extend the Windows shell directly, and having the start menu host .NET controls could be troublesome for whatever reason. This was a quick program I wrote to find out if it was possible, but if I were to develop such an application, I would like to know if it would be safer to create controls using Win32 API?





If I can get this to work, I may be able to create some kind of 'Start Search' for Windows XP...

Is there a safe way to extend the start menu on Windows XP programmatically?
Interesting question...





I would say, yes, it would be safe. Managed code to unmanaged Win32 API calls are generally safe in most applications, so I don't see why it would be different for the Start Menu. I recommend, however, that you post your question on the MSDN forums or MS newsgroups for more in-depth answers:


http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/default...


http://www.microsoft.com/communities/new...