Can't see All Programs from Start Menu or "Uninstall" in Control Panel

abeachtrip13

Reputable
Jul 12, 2014
3
0
4,510
I had some programs on my system that I didn't want, so I went into Control Panel->Programs->Uninstall a Program to get rid of them, and I discovered that there were only about 15 programs listed as being on my system. I then checked under "Start"->All Programs, and the same 15 or so showed up there. I have many more programs than this (they have shortcuts on the desktop and they do work from there). What's strange is that when I try to search for a program it only tells me "no files found."
I have tried almost every solution on the internet, including checking file permissions, making sure "show" is selected for all files and folders, cleaning the registry, getting rid of malware, etc. The only thing I haven't done is reinstall Windows because several users in various forums say it didn't solve the problem when they did it. I even tried moving extra programs into another "folder" called stuff. Nothing.

Any ideas for repopulating my programs list? I am running Windows 7 Home Edition.