Start Menu Most Frequently Used programs list

[Guest]

Have you tryied creating a new user account to see if the same issue occurs?

it could be a corrupt user profile.


HOW TO: Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;279783

How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;811151

if XPP:
, using THE "ADMINISTRATOR" account may cause this issue in some cases, I
have seen cases where the administrator user account is reset to default
settings. ( this account was not designed for everyday use and the settings
for this account can be reset to the default profile)

if the issue does not happen with a new account it may be just a damaged
profile.

 

[Ross LaBarbera]

I've had several discussions with some smart people on this board, but still
haven't found an answer to the problem I am having with my PC. Whenever I
reboot my computer, the Most Frequently Used (MFU) programs list under the
Start Menu gets reset to the Windows XP default...i.e. Tour XP, Windows
Messenger, etc.

I've gone so far as to set Audits on the User Assist key in the Registry
(where someone told me this information was stored) to get a log of what
happens on restart. I got a Failed Access on shutdown from a "user" called
Network Service. It is the only failed access to this key in the registry on
shutdown or startup.

Can someone help tell me what this means? My version of XP came preinstalled
on my computer. Could a system service be set with the incorrect privilege?
Is this even possible? Am I going down the wrong path???

Any advice would be appreciated!

Ross

 

[David Candy]

Does Explorer.exe write to the key?

 

[Guest]

you could try a system restore to TRY to restore your missing data.

HOW TO: Restore the Operating System to a Previous State in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306084

OR

check "Documents & Settings" to see if one of the folder there contain your
missing info.......... "c:\Documents & Settings\Administrator"

The "Administrator" like I said is not designed for everyday use, so when
you have another administrative user created, the "ADMINISTRATOR" will not
show on the welcome screen in normal mode.

boot to safe mode and you should see ADMINISTRATOR on the welcome screen.

if the same issue is happening with a new account, there may be another
program (antivirus, spyware, virus) preventing windows from saving this info,
or it could be a Damaged windows install.

 

[Ross LaBarbera]

I tried this and it didn't help. Unfortunately, when I added a new user
account with Administrator rights to test what you suggested, and I wanted
to switch back, my other account called Administrator is now gone. It had
all my configuration items for Outlook, IE, Word, everything...and now this
is gone. I hope there is a way to get this back.....is there?

I also just had a friend stop over and he said he is experiencing the same
thing as I am on his computer since he installed SP2!

Let me know how I can get my old Administrator account back if possible.

Thanks.
Ross

 

[Ross LaBarbera]

Okay. Now I don't have access to my emails in Outlook, or basically any
other setting that I had configured in my system. I booted in safe mode to
see the Administrator account, but I couldn't delete this new user account
that I had set up to try the fix that you recommended. How do I get rid of
this new user account that I created as an administrator? How do I boot in
the mode that I was in before (as Administrator) so all my settings, email,
etc. is all set up the way it was.

The recommendation that you gave me did not fix my Start Menu problem, and
now I can't even start anything up properly. Help!

Ross