Patrick,

I use SQL to control what is visible and not visible on the admin menu for my users (users have their own portal site and administer it how they want).  These are the queries I use:

Hiding admin functions without removing them from the admin menu:

UPDATE Tabs
SET
IsVisible = 0
WHERE (tabname = 'Name of the menu item you want to  hide goes here' AND PortalID = 'insert portal ID here')

To display the menu items, you would reverse the above query:

UPDATE Tabs
SET
IsVisible = 1
Where (tabname = "Name of the menu item you want to display goes here' AND PortalID = 'insert portal ID here')

Some of my users get four admin menu options:  Pages, Site Log, Recycle Bin, and File Manager.  This allows them to do the things they need to do while ensuring they don't get into things they don't understand how to use or have used inappropriately in the past.