'Start' menu 'Programs' showing empty program list

[Chandu]

I am facing a problem with my windows XP Professional SP2 machine.

When I click on the 'Start' -> Programs, nothing gets displayed the programs list to be diplayed is showing empty.

But, every thing else works fine. When I go to any programs installation folder in 'Program Files\xxx' directory and run the application, everything works fine.

I tried to use the tip mentioned here....

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

But, that is also not working.....

Anybody faced similar problem...? Any solutions?

Thanks....

[chalkstein]

hey man im dealin with the same prob here and i would love someone to shed some light on this situation

[snooker]

Hi ... Have a view at this link below and see if it can help

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

.....

[Winnipeg]

I see that both of you are running xp, which has system restore. Why not just restore your computer back to when you made the changes.

I know this won't give you the answer to why it happened, but your system will be back to the way it was and that will give you time to find an answer to why it happened.

Sometimes just rebooting the machine solves the problem.

Good luck

Winnipeg

[touchstone_81]

Hi try this , may work -- go to the c drive or whichever drive the operating system is installed on .right click the documents and settings folder ,in the properties window if the hidden attribute is checked then uncheck that apply the settings and see if it helps.

[planetxenos]

that worked great. I had "hidden" my documents and settings folder thus hiding the information on the start bar. THANKS!!

[herb]

Hi.

I was getting the same problems.

I used Darik's Boot and Nuke which blew away the hdd w/ 1's and 0's.
I pulled the battery and unplugged the notebook and waited 15 minutes.
Whatever was in there should have been dead.

I started the notebook and installed WXP SP2 clean.
There was no connection to the internet nor my network because I use a PCMCIA wireless card and it was pulled out.

I installed Avast AV from a cd i burned and ZoneAlarm free from another cd i burned.

I adjusted both of the above's settings to basically "paranoid" so I was seeing every living thing Avast was

scanning and Zone alarm alerted for everything under the sun.

Then I went onto the internet and updated Avast.

This new setup was like the setup prior to nuke except this setup lasts a little longer before giving me the

(empty).

It now runs just fine for about 4 days or so and then all of a sudden I get

Start All Programs (empty)
Windows-e (to start windows explorer)
Windows - Application Error
The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000017). Click on OK to terminate the application.

Start-Control Panel doesn't work.

Control - Shift - ESCape doesn't bring up Task Manager

Start - Run doesn't bring up the run box.

Control - Alt - Delete doesn't do anything.

Right-clicking the desktop brings up a shortcut menu w/ Refresh enabled, Paste disabled, Paste Shortcut disabled

and Properties enabled. Clicking Properties does nothing.

Windows-m does minimize anything that was still running at the time of "infection"

Start - Turn Off Computer pops up what looks like a logoff dialog but with only switch user and logoff - no Shut

Down. So to humor it I select logoff and then there's lots of HDD activity and then I'm presented w/ a windows

2000 style login but with windows xp theme - no multiple user login screen. Clicking options >> and then the

Shutdown button pops up another dialog w/ the dropdown list (shutdown,restart,standby,hibernate) From there I can

actually shut down.

Moving the mouse over the tray icons makes some of them disappear.

Shortcuts on the desktop do nothing.

Right-click the task bar and go to Task Manager, Properties - nothing.

Right-click the task bar and go to TOOLBAR - Add New Toolbar and a dialog pops up and all you get in the tree of

directories is Desktop w/ My Documents under it. Make new folder button is usable but does nothing.

This CANT be just a problem with a directory that is read-only or moved.
It almost appears as if there is a false desktop being displayed.

There has GOT to be some kind of software (freeware) out there that can inventory your computer, save that

inventory and each file's signature and then monitor for any suspicious file changes - and possibly monitor drive

space usage where files are created but not shown in windows explorer.

There has GOT to be some kind of software (freeware) that can monitor everything going to and from my notebook and

tell me in plain english what the transmission / reception was and either LMK that that was a normal and OK tx/rx

or if it is something to worry about.

There's just no way this is an OS issue / patch issue - if it can be explained in simple terms that, yes, it is an

OS issue/patch issue then I'll buy it but until then...

Thanks for reading!
I'm open to hearing anyone's thoughts and comments.

Herb