Unable To Start Most Programs From Taskbar And Start Menu?
Jul 1, 2012
When I start up my computer, my Steam starts up, then I manually start Chrome. Chrome comes up fine, Steam does too, but when I try to right click on Steam and click friends, all it does is create another steam process running at 100-108 K. Then if I close Chrome and try to reopen it, it will do the same. This happens with EVERY program after I start up. There's a 5 second window where I can open programs without issue, then after that it will only start 108 K copies of them. It takes me around 30 restarts just to get it working properly, if not more.
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Jan 2, 2013
Like the title says, most of the programs listed in the start menu are gone. They can still be accessed from other places, like the task bar and shortcuts, at least most of them. I would show a picture, but I can't access Paint. The only things that remain are Mahjong, Chess, Solitaire, Purble Place and Magnifier in the main menu and under All Programs: IE, some accessories (not including paint), McAfee, Google Chrome, The startup folder, and WinRAR.
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Aug 19, 2012
Where can I find all of my programs and files to remove unwanted downloads that I can't remove from my laptop?
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Aug 13, 2012
Yesterday, the task bar and Start button mysteriously disappeared.I've also found that the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" windowdoesn't come up. There are two places to click on in Control Panelthat should bring up this window, but it doesn't. The Control Panelborder changes color as if something is starting to happen, but thennothing happens, possibly indicating that some program starts to runbut then finds something wrong and exits. I didn't see anythinginteresting in the error logs. The desktop icons appear normally.The problem exists only when logging onto my son's account. When Ilog on as administrator, the task bar and Start button appearnormally.The usual tricks don't work: Ctrl+ESC, or bringing up Task Manager andtrying to rerun explorer.exe. I tried sfc to check for corruptedfiles, but none turned up. I ran an AVG scan and it did find one fileit considered a threat, which it removed, but that didn't solve theproblem.
I found a web site that referred to the registrykeyHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorerwhich has a NoSetTaskbar value that can be used to disable the"Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" window. On the administratorlogin, the Explorer subkey is there all right, but doesn't haveNoSetTaskbar. (It does have NoDriveTypeAutoRun.) But when I log ontomy son's account, the Policies key had no subkeys at all. I triedadding an Explorer subkey without adding any values, but this didn'tsolve the problem. I haven't yet tried adding a NoDriveTypeAutoRunvalue, but since this seems to pertain to AutoPlay it didn't seemrelevant to this problem.Any thoughts as to what might be going on or what might fix it?
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Jun 10, 2011
A client of mine (I'm an IT summer temp in a production facility) recently contracted the Windows 7 Recovery virus and contacted me to fix it. Having encountered the XP version recently and resolved the issue, I was able to easily remove the virus and associated rootkit. The difference this time was that unhide.exe failed to restore the start>all programs menu shortcuts, although it did manage to restore the folder structure. I read through and followed the instructions of another thread here: [URL]. Which did not resolve the issue. The output given by SystemLook is as follows:
SystemLook 04.09.10 by jpshortstuff
Log created at 09:14 on 09/06/2011 by debra
Administrator - Elevation successful
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Feb 10, 2012
I know that the full version can be achieved while holding the shift key, but is there way to bypass that and have the regular full sized menu by default?
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Jan 3, 2013
So about a month ago I restarted my computer and when it came back on all my programs pinned to my task bar and everything that was in my start menu was gone. From there I could not unlock the taskbar and nothing would pin in either the start menu or taskbar. I researched everywhere about it. I tried unlocking the taskbar in properties and registry with no luck. I finally found some posts about how my user profile was corrupt and from there I went on and made a new profile and copied everything and BOOM it all worked fine now. Well today it happened AGAIN! I restarted my computer and everything disappeared. So I think it is still a corrupt profile, but this is the second time it has happened.
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Jan 16, 2013
I have a client that has laptop with windows 7 Pro. He had a faulty network card, so I have added a new, usb network card. That said, He can not pin anything to taskbar or start menu. I cleared both folders of shortcuts(567 of them) but to no avail. He also has no options under his desktop Context menu for New. He is also using a roaming profile, of which I will disable next time I am there. I have a feeling that might be the issue. I did scour the internet trying all the usual suggestions, but do vaguely remember something about an entry in cache somewhere that if it is too big or corrupt, it could cause this behavior. I am unable to find that post anywhere now.I mention the network card because one post had taskbar issues until he disabled his faulty network card. I have disabled the faulty network card.
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Feb 3, 2010
Registry Hacks To Customize Windows 7 & Vista Start Menu & TaskBar Useful links: Ultimate Windows Tweaker - Features PC Tools Registry Guide Back Up, Restore, aintain the Windows 7 & Vista Registry While there are several freeware Windows Tweaking Utilities , like the freeware portable Ultimate Windows Tweaker ,available, there are some who just love to tinker with the Registry. This article is for those such. Most ot these tweaks are applicabe to Windows 7 too. Do remember that it is risky touching the registry and as such do back up the registry and / or create a system restore point first.To customize your start menu options, you have to modify the DWORD value data and set it to either 0 or 1. To modify the value data, you rt click on the name and select modify.
Then in the value data box, you set its numeric valueetting the value of respective DWORD to 1, means that it will have the effect as described in the Value NameSetting the value of respective DWORD to 0, means that it will have the OPPOSITE effect as described in the Value Name.If the DWORD ValueNames do not exist, you will have to create them. To create them, rt click in any blank space in RHS Panel > New >Dword value.The following are some of the recognized DWORDValueNames.NoTrayItemsDisplay : Hides the Task Bar notification areaNoToolbarsOnTaskbar : Do not display any custom toolbars in the taskbar QuickLaunchEnabled : Enable QuickLaunch bar display in the TaskBarNoSimpleStartMenu : Disabling it will force the Classic Start Menu NoStartMenuPinnedList : RemovePinned Programs list from the Start Menu NoStartMenuMorePrograms : Remove �All Programs� list from the Start menu NoStartMenuMyGanes : Remove Games from Start Menu NoStartMenuMyMusic : Remove Music from Start Menu NoStartMenuNetworkPlaces : Remove Network from Start Menu NoTaskGrouping : Prevent grouping of Task Bar items HideClock : Hides from the Task Bar notification area NoSMBalloonTip : Remove Balloon Tips on Start Menu items NoAutoTrayNotify : Turn off Task Bar area cleanup notification LockTaskbar : Lock the Taskbar and prevents the User from moving or resizing it NoSearchCommInStartMenu : If enabled Start Menu search will not search for Communications. NoSearchProgramsInStartMenu : If enabled Start Menu search will not search for Programs. NoSearchInternetInStartMenu : If enabled Start Menu search will not search for Internet History NoSearchFilesInStartMenu : If enabled Start Menu search will not search for Files This list is not exhaustive. You can simply study the registry key's DWORD's, illustrated above and see that there would be many more such tweaks or hacks available. The ValueNames are roughly indicative of what they would do.
Take the example of NoRun. Its value is set at 0. If you open Taskbar & Start Menu Properties > Star Menu Tab > Start Menu > Customize. You will see a checkbox to Add Run command to the Start Menu. But if you now go back to regedit, and change the DWORD of NoRun to 1, and now go back to the Start Menu properties box, you will see that the item to Add Run itself will be missing ! So, enabling or disabling such options through Vista Registry, will allow or prohibits users, from executing such actions through the Properties box. Incidentally, there used to be a Registry Restriction Tool from Microsoft, which went on to become a part of the Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit which went on to become Windows SteadyState. You may find SteadyState of interest. If you are interested in such Registry Hacks you may find this Registry Guide for Windows of immense interest. It provides an extensive range of registry tweaks, tricks & hacks for optimizing, enhancing and securing the Windows� operating systems including Vista.
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Nov 25, 2010
I recently bought a second user machine from a colleague of mine. He re-installed Windows 7 so that everything was fresh and set up a new profile for me but I wasn't happy with the name of the profile that he had set up. Anyway to cut a long story short I created a new profile, copied the old files across and deleted the old profile I wasn't happy with.Everything is working fine and as it should be but I have a now have a couple of annoyances with a number of the programs that I have pinned to the taskbar and the start menu. For example when I pinned Firefox and Thunderbird to the taskbar it has named them as Firefox (2) and Thunderbird (2) as if they are duplicate programs/shortcuts. The same is true with some of the programs that I have pinned to the start menu. For example when I pinned CCleaner to the start menu Windows named it as CCleaner (2) even though it wasn't present in the first place. If I try to rename it to CCleaner (as it should appear) Windows tells me that there is already a program by that name pinned there and it asks me if I would like to rename it CCleaner (3).As far as I can tell it doesn't affect the performance of such programmes, its just really really frustrating. Would it have anything to do with the files that I copied across from my old profile?
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Mar 30, 2011
Is there a way to permanently lock items on the task bar and start menu? I can for example lock the taskbar, but can still drag icons onto or from it and rearrange them. I want to lock everything permanantly so no one can screw them up. I'm using Home Premium.
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Aug 24, 2011
My taskbar and the start menu has going missing suddenly.
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Jun 23, 2012
I can open any file from my saved files but can't open any program from start menu or taskbar
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Sep 25, 2012
I wish that all new users of Windows 7 SP1 had no icon on their taskbar and no link in their Start menu.
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Dec 21, 2010
If I mount a removeable media such as USB Stick or a TrueCrypt file volume (with rm option) then I cannot pin prgms from these medias/drives to the taskbar nor pin files to the Start menu. Is there really no way to disable this No-Pin-Protection? Under WinXP this worked without problems.
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Dec 30, 2010
No matter how many times I launch Skype or iTunes, they just won't get added to the Start Menu's Recent Programs list.
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Jun 7, 2012
I am connecting to a remote desktop that I have been connecting to for months now but suddenly today the taskbar and start menu from the remote computer disappeared and I can only see my laptop's menu and taskbar. This means I can't get into the Computer or folders of the remote desktop as there is not a shortcut on the desktop. It is also generally annoying.
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May 29, 2011
The screenshot will show what I mean. When I click on All programs, a list appears (shortened) and when I click on a choice (i.e. Accessories/System Tools) it tells me it is empty.I don't know how to fix this, and all references I have found seem to relate to upgrades from Vista to windows7.I have windows home premium 64 bit.
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Nov 5, 2009
I've installed Windows 7 on my laptop and want to customize the Start Menu's All Programs window. I normally consolidate like programs/folders into one common folder to minimize the number of items on the All Program window (i.e. all Microsoft related items in one folder called something like Microsoft Programs). I can't seem to figure out how to do that in Windows 7.
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Apr 23, 2011
Unfortuanteyl it seems to me that Windows 7 does not accept if users want to pin folders or files which are on removeable medias (USB-Sticks, DVDs, TrueCrypt volumes,...) to the TaskBar resp. Start menu.
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Aug 25, 2011
Essentially, upon starting up my computer, from time to time, I have no yet been able to isolate what may cause this issue, I will find that I cannot launch programs from their shortcuts in the Quick Start or Taskbar menu. As of right now I have not tried to launch said programs from the original .exe file in this scenario.I've noticed that when I try to open these programs from the Taskbar, the icon will be surrounded by a square to indicate that it is active, but, after a period of maybe 5 seconds or so, sometimes longer, it will disappear and the program will no longer look active. Opening up the task manager, the programs usually show up in the Processes under the appropriate name. Multiple instances of a program can appear, even when, under normal circumstances, multiple instances aren't allowed (such as with Firefox). The processes will usually show a static amount of memory used, like 108k for any firefox.exe in the process list, and will simply sit there until they are ended, despite the program not actually running. When this happens I generally have to restart the computer and hope it works on the restart.
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Mar 23, 2010
I`ve got a weird problem that keeps happening. Without any errors or warningall of my Desktop Icons become frozen. I cannot activate any of them. If Ihave any windows open in the Taskbar or programmes running in the System trayI can left/right click on any of them and they all workfine(Programmes/Window Explorer/IE7 etc). I can access the Start menu andis the solution if it happens in Windows Vista but this
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Jan 22, 2013
Lost start menu, desktop icons and taskbar manager in computer?
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Mar 31, 2012
So I made the mistake of downloading the Codec C Malware. I got it deleted but now my programs are missing.
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May 16, 2011
looked the most sensible place to put it. Second, I've tried scouring the internet for a similar problem, but as of yet have been unable to find one.The problem I'm experiencing occurred after some hardware problems, which meant the computer was periodically crashing. I think I've now fixed these, however a software problem with windows 7 seems to be occurring.Every time I go to the start menu and load a program, not one but two instances of these programs start up. This doesn't occur with all programs I've tested, but this may be because other programs only allow one instance to run at a time. Examples of ones I've tested include Speedfan, Handbrake, Calculator. If I start the programs from within explorer, only one instance starts.
Interestingly, not sure if this is related, if I go into explorer and double click on a folder, it does not open the folder, i have to right click and then use the open option.The computer generally feels a bit slow. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar, or whether I should try a repair install (which will be a bit of hassle as I'll have to try to uninstall SP1 first).
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Jan 3, 2012
I have stuff on the start menu list so i can get to them easy but the past few weeks now they are just randomly getting removed
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Mar 21, 2009
Maybe a week or two ago I was cleaning a junk from a system with revo uninstaller and have checked few more options then they are checked by default,and I erased some of the apps from start menu.That were apps which are in Accessories and System tools folders,and all Administrative tools folder.
After that I tried to approac them through Administrative tols in Control panel,but I was getting a message that a shortcut refers to a location which is unavailable,and that they are maybe moved to some other place on HD.Since I knew what have I done,and it was 3:00 AM,I decided to do a System restore,but some other day when I won't be sleepy.
Tomorrow and day after tomorrow I was kind a busy,and forgot to do a System Restore,but I was downloading some games and I was running out of a place on that partition.I was maybe a few hundreds megabytes short,and decided to delete all system restore points and turn off system protection,so I can get some extra place which was earlier dedicated to System restore.Off course,in that moment I forgot about the programs I deleted few days before but I remembered them in the same moment I turn off System protection and when restore points were gone,but a second or two too late.
So,my question is:
Is there any way so I can get back System tools and Administrative tools back?
Of course there is because I see some of them in System32 folder and in Windows folder(exe files) or maybe they are all there but I can't tell which one was where,and I don't know how I can get them back in Start menu,and reassociate Administrative tools with Control panel shortcut.
And of course,I don't have an image of a system.
I hope that you undersand what I was trying to tell.
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Apr 16, 2009
This may have been reported earlier and has been happening on Vista and XP to some people (albeit not REALLY the same), but I'm seeing my entire programs list in "All Programs" disappear after every installation of any software. It seems adding to the list makes it disappear. The funny thing is that the actual files (shortcuts, etc.) are all in place in their proper folders and don't get removed. It's just the start menu which stops showing them. A way to fix this, for me, is to MOVE the entire contents of
"[startup drive]:Users[username]AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuPrograms"
to a different folder and then MOVE it all back (same goes for the
"[startup drive]ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuPrograms"
contents) After this, it all comes back, but only until I install something new.
Does anybody have any such or similar problems?
Also, I have a different user account on this computer (for my wife) and none of this happens there, even if I perform an installation from under that account!
I should also say that this window install (currently build 7077) has been upgraded from 7048 (i.e. 7048 -> 7057 -> 7068 - >7077). I have AVG antivirus + firewall installed (the problem happens with it disabled and has started long after AVG's been installed anyway).
This did not happen on any provious builds (and started relatively recently but for the life of me I can't remember when exactly since I don't really use the programs menu that much). The first time it happened I did a restore which brought back the contents but again, until the next install after which it all disappeared again.
It seems to have something to do with the way the start menu finds its contents...
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Aug 9, 2011
I have very few programs under all programs, but over twice as many in my add/delete programs. how can i get these other programs into my start menu?
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Oct 26, 2011
My computer recently prompted me to do a virus scan and after rebooting, it erased all the files and programs on it. I read some posts stating to "unhide" all the folders in windows explorer to help the situation. That seemed to restore alot of programs, but I still can't launch certain programs off the Start Menu nor can I see their shortcut in Windows Explorer. I'm able to open files using those programs from Windows explorer, I just cant open the program itself from the Start Menu. The folders of those programs on the Start Menu say "empty" and no program is displayed.
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May 6, 2012
How to permanently remove/ban programs from the Start Menu Recent List? (Since manually deleting them will only get them back on once the program is started again.) The sole answer gave a suggestion to "switch the feature off". This answer though useful to some is not to me. Those programs which are indeed often used are on the desktop via a shortcut. Those on the start menu, are programs not often used or perhaps only used this week, then not used for 2 months, then used again later once. Therefore, as the reader suggested, to then, after turning the feature off and"add links to the programs you do want there manually" doesn't do it since I may not want them there 'next week' nor do I like the idea of me having to manually add them and manually remove them all the time. In Windows XP there used to be a little Microsoft program called TweakUI (Power Toys) that would do exactly that--controlled which programs could go there and which could not. Considering that TweakUi was originally made for the 1st or 2nd Windows version (before Windows 95) I hesitate to use it again for Windows 7.
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