Start Menu - All Programs are missing

Hi all, I need some urgent help from you all. I am using a Dell laptop running with Windows Vista Home Premium. Last night I was cleaning up my hard disk dui\ring which I deleted several files from folders including program files directory Carefully but seems like I made some mistake. After deleting unwanted files I turned off the system and today morning when I booted up I found that there is no All Programs link.

I am talking about Start > All Programs. Unfortunately I even emptied my recycle bin. I use to backup my system every week. But when I tried restoring the system from recently backup file, process went fine but still I cannot see the All Programs link.

Any idea what has gone wrong and how can I fix it? Thanks for all your helps.

I dont what what is wrong but i know how you can restore back the Start menu to its original, default settings. I think this will bring you back your All Programs menu. Just go through the following steps:

• Open Taskbar and Start Menu Properties by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Taskbar and Start Menu.
• Click the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.
• In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, click Use Default Settings, and then click OK.

Try this steps.......

Try this; it worked like magic for me. Click on Start, then on Computer, then go into the C drive. Click on Program Files. Press Ctrl+A to select everything, then right click and select Properties. You may notice that the "hidden" folder/file value is checked. If it is, then THAT'S the problem, and I have no idea how it occured. Anyway, uncheck the "hidden" value, select "apply attributes to all folders, subfolders" and so on, and click OK. All your programs should now magically reappear under All Programs.

Hello bjude. There is way by which you can restore back if you have lost most of your programs in the Vista Home Premium.

You have to start by creating shortcuts from the following programs and to get these open start>computer>search. Start to type or copy paste the following into the search bar located in the top right hand corner. The 1st 7 are folders and the rest are just shortcuts and save to the desktop.

Quote:

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Accessories
Extras and Upgrades
Administrative Tools
Games
Maintenance
Programs
Startup
Shortcuts
Launch Internet Explorer Browser
Media Center
Media Center
Windows Collaboration
Windows Contacts
Windows Defender
Windows DVD Maker
Windows Media Player
Windows Movie Maker
Windows Photo Gallery
Windows Sidebar

---

Once you have done this you will need to do the following:

• Right click on the Start button and click on Open All Users or Explore All Users, not Open/Explore.
• NOTE: This will open this hidden Start Menu folder in Windows Explorer:
• C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu then you copy or cut and paste all of the folders and
• Shortcuts you have just made in the folder then close this and then hey presto all done:
• Click start all programs then you will see all back to normal...
• This took a while for me to figure out and no doubt it will happen again so I will be smart
• Write it all down and copy all the folders and shortcuts I have made and this no file to a cd for Future use
• I hope this helps anyone with this issue thanks for looking... you don’t need to install ny other software to do this

Yeah first one is correct, what I did was put it next to my notebook [running windows7] & then just opened each program by typing them [program name] into the search field. Then they would appear in start-up automatically. The computer I was working on had 4 virus's & 22 Trojans, so I guess that's why they disappeared in the first place. BTW, I wasn't paying attention until I finished that it was Vista so I guess this would work on XP too, IDK... Glad the owner wasn't here lol...