All programs missing from windows xp start menu

carole12842

Distinguished
Oct 11, 2011
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18,510
Had problems caused by Trojan. Was able to recover files from hard drive, but All programs is missing from start menu and I am unable to access my favorites.
Please help

thank you
 
Solution



Whatever you do, do not delete any temp or temporary files !
Your missing folders/files/icons may have been moved to TEMP locations and HIDDEN, which is what some infections do. Will followup with another post as to where the files may be located, ASAP ! :bounce:



Whatever you do, do not delete any temp or temporary files !
Your missing folders/files/icons may have been moved to TEMP locations and HIDDEN, which is what some infections do. Will followup with another post as to where the files may be located, ASAP ! :bounce:
 
Solution



1) Download and Run utility "Unhide"

2) Missing items may be found in following:
(only copy items you are missing)

After running the unhide tool you may still be missing most of your start menu shortcuts… They May be found in a folder named smtmp inside:

(XP)- C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temp
(W7)- C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Temp

These will be there unless you have removed temp files / folders

There might be three numbered folders inside C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\Local Settings\Temp\smtmp folder. The folders will be numbered 1, 2 and 4.

Inside the 1 folder is a folder named “Programs.” This folder should be copied / pasted to (using XP) to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu, which will already have a folder named Programs but it is safe to overwrite it since Windows will replace the subfolders without creating duplicates.

Inside the 2 folder are the quick launch items specific for the user. Select ALL of these shortcuts and copy / paste to (using XP) C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch.

Inside the 4 folder are the desktop items that should be copied to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop.

For Windows 7 users, the all users start menu is C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and the all users desktop folder is C:\Users\Public\Desktop

Hope this helps ! :hello:
 

lewza

Distinguished
Sep 16, 2011
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What Ksiemb said ^

Ive had to deal with that virus a couple of times, ive had customers with the exact same issue. It seems that this trojan likes to hide all the files so it leads the user to think they have been deleted. Unhide the files and they should all reappear again :)
 

scottpei

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Nov 8, 2011
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All the instructions given by ksiemb worked for me the first three times I fixed this type of trojan. However, today unhide did not do its "job". I went to the path C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temp but there was no smtmp folder!

So I did a search on the entire drive and found it in C:\Windows\Temp !!! Thankfully, since I didn't relish recreating all those shortcuts. Then I copied it from that location into C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temp, ran unhide and it worked!

It seems this type of Trojan is changing its habits!
 



Yes, those varmin read these forums also ! :lol: