Recognizing programs from previous windows install

[Guest]

i recently built a new computer with the hard drive from my previous computer
and I had to reinstall windows to allow the computer to boot with the new
motherboard and processesor. All of my old data and programs are still on
the hard drive and i can view them in windows explorer but none of the
programs that should appear in teh start menu are there. They are all still
in the program files directory but dont appear ont eh start menu, some
programs won't even start though.

How can I get my old programs to appear in the start menu an what might be
wrong with those programs that won't start?

 

[Gerry Hickman]

Hi mcindafizzy,

How can I get my old programs to appear in the start menu an what might be
wrong with those programs that won't start?

In genral, you can't do this because all the component registrations
will be lost, not to mention the installer properties. Even if you
decided to force them to start working again, it's a very bad idea -
your computer would be a mess. The best option is to just treat the old
hard-drive as data, and re-install the programs you want to the new drive.

 

[DL]

If you used the old hd and reinstalled win what you *actually did* was
install a *second instance* of win.
You should have done a repair installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341
You need to do this, ensuring you are repairing the correct win
installation. Once done you then need to delete the 'extra' installation