SyMenu Orphan Icons Cleaner

A utility for SyMenu portable menu users that identifies and removes orphaned icon files — icons that exist in the Icons folder but are no longer referenced by any menu item in the SyMenu configuration.

Over time, as you add and remove portable apps from your SyMenu setup, unused .ico files can accumulate in the Icons folder. This tool cleans them up, keeping your SyMenu installation tidy.

NOTE:

There are three versions:

• v1 - AutoHotkey was the original source code by VVV_Easy_SyMenu.
• v2 - AutoHotkey was updated and enhanced by me.
• v3 - VB.NET also by me, is the active version and was created to avoid the incessant false positives by windows defender.

Features

• Orphan Detection — Scans all .ico files in SyMenu\Icons against the SyMenuItem.xml configuration to find unreferenced icons
• Move or Delete — Choose to move orphans to a _Trash\_OrphanIcons folder for review, or permanently delete them
• Exclusion List — Protect specific icons from being flagged as orphans via an editable exclusion list (Exclusions.txt)
• Inline Editing — Edit and save the exclusion list directly within the GUI
• Detailed Logging — Activity log displayed in the GUI and saved to a .log file, with optional verbose mode
• Resizable GUI — Side-by-side layout with a draggable splitter between the exclusion list and the log window
• Persistent Settings — Window size, splitter position, SyMenu path, and all options are saved between sessions via Settings.ini

Requirements

• AutoHotkey v2.0 or later
• A working SyMenu installation

Installation

1. Download or clone this repository
2. Place the script files in a folder of your choice (e.g. inside your SyMenu ProgramFiles directory)
3. Ensure AutoHotkey v2.0+ is installed, or use a compiled .exe version

Usage

First Run

1. Run SyMenu_Orphan_Icons v2.ahk (or the compiled .exe)
2. Click Browse... to select your SyMenu root folder (e.g. D:\SyMenu)
3. The path is saved automatically for future runs

Scanning for Orphans

1. Click Go! to start the scan
2. The script will:
   • Extract SyMenuItem.xml from SyMenu\Config\SyMenuItem.zip
   • Scan every .ico file in SyMenu\Icons
   • Check each icon filename against the configuration
   • Move (or delete) any icons not found in the configuration
3. Results are shown in the log window and a summary message box

Options

Option	Description
Delete?	If checked, orphan icons are permanently deleted. If unchecked (default), they are moved to SyMenu\ProgramFiles\SPSSuite\SyMenuSuite\_Trash\_OrphanIcons for manual review
Delete present Log File and start new?	If checked (default), creates a fresh log file each run. If unchecked, appends to the existing log
Full information log (verbose mode)?	If checked, logs every icon scanned (active, excluded, and orphan). If unchecked (default), only logs orphaned icons

Managing Exclusions

Some icons may not be referenced in SyMenuItem.xml but you still want to keep them. Use the exclusion list to protect them:

1. Click Edit to unlock the exclusion list
2. Add one icon filename per line (e.g. MyCustomIcon.ico)
3. Lines starting with ; are treated as comments and ignored
4. Click Save to apply your changes

The exclusion list is stored in Exclusions.txt alongside the script.

GUI Layout

The window is split into two panels:

• Left panel — Exclusion list editor
• Right panel — Log output window

Drag the grey splitter bar between the panels to resize them. The window can also be freely resized. Your layout preferences are saved automatically.

File Structure

SyMenu_Orphan_Icons v2.ahk   # Main script
Settings.ini                   # Auto-generated settings (path, options, window layout)
Exclusions.txt                 # Icon exclusion list (one filename per line)
SyMenu_Orphan_Icons v2.log    # Activity log

How It Works

SyMenu stores all menu item configuration in a single file: Config\SyMenuItem.zip, which contains SyMenuItem.xml. This XML file references icon filenames for every item across all suites (SyMenuSuite, NirSoftSuite, custom suites, etc.).

The script extracts this XML, then performs a simple text search for each .ico filename found in the Icons folder. If an icon's filename doesn't appear anywhere in the XML, it's considered orphaned.

Version History

Version	Date	Changes
v2.7	2026-04-01	Config read from SyMenuItem.xml, exclusion list support
v2.6	2026-04-01	Fixed splitter drag via WM messages, anchored buttons
v2.5	2026-04-01	Resizable window, draggable splitter, saved layout
v2.4	2026-04-01	Side-by-side layout (exclusions left, log right)
v2.3	2026-04-01	Settings persistence via Settings.ini
v2.2	2026-04-01	Inline edit/save for exclusions, path fixes
v2.1	2026-04-01	Added exclusion list support via Exclusions.txt
v2.0	2026-04-01	Converted to AHK v2
v1.0	2017-01-27	First version (AHK v1)

Credits

• Original v1 script by the VVV_Easy_SyMenu
• v2 conversion and enhancements with assistance from GitHub Copilot by sl23

License

This project is provided as-is for use with SyMenu. See SyMenu's website for more information about SyMenu itself.