This is the proper way to remove “pinned” icons from the Start Menu.
on error resume next
Const CSIDL_APPDATA = &H1A
Dim objShell
Dim objFolder
Dim objFolderItem
Dim objVerb
Dim objCurrentUserAppData
Dim strCurrentUserAppData
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set objCurrentUserAppData = objShell.NameSpace(CSIDL_APPDATA)
strCurrentUserAppData = objCurrentUserAppData.Self.Path
Set objFolder = objShell.Namespace(strCurrentUserAppData & "\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu")
Set objFolderItem = objFolder.ParseName("<strong>Shortcut Name.lnk</strong>")
For Each objVerb in objFolderItem.Verbs
If Replace(objVerb.name, "&", "") = "Unpin from Start Menu" Then objVerb.DoIt
Next