start menu problem

[David Holmstrom]

OK, I've seen lots of weird stuff in Windows, but this one has me stumped.

The "all programs" list on the start menu is supposed to have all shortcuts
--links to other locations -- or executables, right?

Well, for the last month or so (I think -- not sure when this started, or
if it happenned before I installed service pack 2) some of my start menu
items have populated themselves with non-executable files and folders, not
shortcuts. So that, for example, when I roll the pointer over a menu
choice with the little arrow next to it (ie it is supposed to open a sub-
menu) it opens a full page of files, dll's, drivers, text files, etc.

Yes, I have looked in the StartMenu folders under documents and settings
for Admin, All Users, Owner & Default User. The screwed up items -- and
several other items that are working OK -- do not appear in ANY of those
folders. FOr example, I have a menu item called "DOSAPPS" with pointers to
123.exe and dbase.exe. I can't find a DOSAPPS folder anywhere in documents
and settings, and WinXP Search doesn't find it anywhere on my system.
Where the heck are they coming from?

Is it too much to ask for M$ to give us a decent start menu management tool
-- eg one that would allow us to rearrange the items, put them in
hierarchical folders, and check a box assigning them to Admin, All Users,
Owner, etc?

Thanks in advance for any advice. Please also reply to

(e-mail address removed)

David

 

[Guest]

Hey.
I'm not certain, but I have the suspicion that a virus may have fiddled
around with the start menu entries in your registry. Try to save the start
menu registry entries from a computer that has a working start menu. Then
just load them to your computer. (make sure you back up your current registry
first.) and if you decide to do this, just incase something goes wrong where
you cant open the start menu, it would be wise to make a "my computer" and
"run" shortcut on your desktop.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Yes, I have looked in the StartMenu folders under documents and settings
for Admin, All Users, Owner & Default User. The screwed up items -- and
several other items that are working OK -- do not appear in ANY of those
folders. FOr example, I have a menu item called "DOSAPPS" with pointers to
123.exe and dbase.exe. I can't find a DOSAPPS folder anywhere in documents
and settings, and WinXP Search doesn't find it anywhere on my system.
Where the heck are they coming from?

Look in the registry at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\Shell Folders
to find where the system currently thinks Start Menu; Programs and
Startup actually are.

I agree that this looks like virus activity.

In the normal way you can edit the content of the Start Menu system by
right click on Start; and either 'Open All Users' for communal items, or
just Open for any purely personal ones for your account. The Programs
folder there corres[onds to the 'All Programs' node of the Start Menus.

You can then arrange menus by dragging items around, or sort them with a
right click and Sort by name

 

[David Holmstrom]

Yes, I have looked in the StartMenu folders under documents and
settings for Admin, All Users, Owner & Default User. The screwed up
items -- and several other items that are working OK -- do not appear
in ANY of those folders. FOr example, I have a menu item called
"DOSAPPS" with pointers to 123.exe and dbase.exe. I can't find a
DOSAPPS folder anywhere in documents and settings, and WinXP Search
doesn't find it anywhere on my system. Where the heck are they coming
from?

Look in the registry at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\Shell Folders
to find where the system currently thinks Start Menu; Programs and
Startup actually are.

I agree that this looks like virus activity.

In the normal way you can edit the content of the Start Menu system by
right click on Start; and either 'Open All Users' for communal items,
or just Open for any purely personal ones for your account. The
Programs folder there corres[onds to the 'All Programs' node of the
Start Menus.

You can then arrange menus by dragging items around, or sort them with
a right click and Sort by name

Thanks for the suggestion, but that reg key shows just what you would
expect: C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Start Menu

As to the "normal way", as I said, I had already tried that. I can't
find anything odd in those folders, and I can't find the weird menu
entries in those folders.

Thanks. Any other ideas?

David
please cc reply to (e-mail address removed)

 

[David Holmstrom]

Thanks for the suggestion, but that reg key shows just what you would
expect: C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Start Menu

As to the "normal way", as I said, I had already tried that. I can't
find anything odd in those folders, and I can't find the weird menu
entries in those folders.

Thanks. Any other ideas?

Again, Any other ideas? This is driving me nuts. It's more of an
annoyance than a serious problem, but I'm afraid that it is the symptom
of a serious problem -- and I've been getting a lot of crashes and "can't
end file" errors recently.

The situation is that actual folders from My Programs are showing up on
the Start menu. They are NOT in any of the Documents and Settings
folders. If I change the folder name in My Programs from eg Palm to
PalmXXX, then PalmXXX shows up on the start menu (the All Programs menu).
Why the heck is Windows doing this, and how can I stop it? WinXP Home
SP2.

Has anyone else heard of this? Is there a Knowledge Base reference? I
assume the answer isn't easy since no one has had any good ideas yet.

David
please cc reply to (e-mail address removed)

 

[Alex Nichol]

Again, Any other ideas? This is driving me nuts. It's more of an
annoyance than a serious problem, but I'm afraid that it is the symptom
of a serious problem -- and I've been getting a lot of crashes and "can't
end file" errors recently.

Only thing that has occurred to me is whether they have been hidden and
you are not seeing them there - have Folder Options - View set to show
Hidden files, and *not* Hide Protected mode ones