cleaned out all of my start menu items

[Vosberg1]

OK, quick breif. Using Windows 7 Ult N 32 bit, and yesterday i was doing some cleaning of some old folders, and files. I ran a program called Glary Utilities, and, now i have an odd problem. It cleaned out all of my start menu items, sans for the ones that i had pined. (Screenshot of that) I have tried a couple of things, but i admit, i am at a loss of what to do. How do i get back the items in the Start Menu? The cached ones, that is.

 

[Lemur]

Why don't you restore your computer to a date prior to using glary utilities?

 

[gregrocker]

Win7 requires no tweaking besides normal system settings. It will always wind up working against you in the long run - or sooner, as you found out.

Windows Defender has a Software Explorer in its Options which allows you to see a more user friendly listing of what Startup items are than msconfig>Startup. Any that arent clear can be googled to quickly find their purpose.

I uncheck everything except AV and gadgets as others to me are freeloaders on CPU/RAM and can spy you.

 

[profdlp]

If you're still stuck, maybe a hair of the dog:

Glarysoft Forum "Disk Clean" I mistake Deleted Files, File UnDelete Help?

I used to use that program but didn't reinstall it the last time around. It seems to me that there was also a "backup" folder in case you ended up in a situation such as yours. Look in "My Documents" or under C:\Users\username\AppData, then either Local or Roaming for a Glarysoft folder.

 

[karlsnooks]

Vosberg,

By cleaned out, do you mean that the items no longer appear in that list above the search bar? Do you mean that the programs were removed from your computer? Do you mean the programs were removed from the list of programs which are run at startup time?

 

[Corelogik]

Windows Defender has a Software Explorer in its Options which allows you to see a more user friendly listing of what Startup items are than msconfig>Startup. Any that arent clear can be googled to quickly find their purpose.

I'm having trouble finding that, could post a screenshot or give some more info of where I would find that feature. Thanks.

After doing some searching around, it says that software explorer isn't included in my version of windows. Is there a way to get it that you know of? Or do i just need to use something else?

 

[whs]

The ones that were not pinned were only temporary anyhow - those were the last ones you visited. If you care to get some back, go into All Programs and right click on the ones you want, then "Pin to start menu".
If you do not care to have all those temporaries, go to the start menu properties and set the number to zero (see picture).

 

[Bill2]

That empty space will get populated gradually by the programs you open. Also, right click on the Start orb, click on Properties and make sure the box "store and dispaly recently opened programs in start menu" is checked. (Glary probably unchecked that).

 

[Vosberg1]

Well, it is the ones that you would open after time. I have opened quite a few, just like in these two, Paint was opened, but, it is not caching into the Start menu. I have it set for 20, i am at a loss.

I have tried a few of the suggestions, and to no avil as well.

Thanks for your help.

 

[karlsnooks]

Vosberg,
Take a look at these and see if you have maybe overlooked a needed item.

 

[Layback Bear]

Just to mention again. If one wants little programs to change things on Windows 7 I would recommend using Microsoft site. Most of those 3rd party do da programs cause more problems with W7 than do good. Like has been posted before, go to a restore point before this program was installed and you should be back to were you want to be. Once you are there and you want to change something please ask here. If possible some one will help you.

 

[whs]

Just to mention again. If one wants little programs to change things on Windows 7 I would recommend using Microsoft site. Most of those 3rd party do da programs cause more problems with W7 than do good. Like has been posted before, go to a restore point before this program was installed and you should be back to were you want to be. Once you are there and you want to change something please ask here. If possible some one will help you.

+1, you are absolutely right.

 

[Vosberg1]

Well, final update. I dunno what cleared up the problem, but, things are now back to normal. To me it seems that maybe checking and double checking the opts in the start prefs cleared up what ever caused this. But, thanks for the advice, i was kinda confused about what happened for a while. And, i did uninstall Glary Utils for the moment.

 

[karlsnooks]

Vosberg,

Glad to hear that all is well now and thanks for getting back to us with the update.

I have no idea what glary utilities is but I do know that I would never, never install such. If this software offers something that you feel that you can not live without, then let us know and we will show you how to accomplish the same using the built-in capabilities of Win 7.

 

[whs]

Vosberg,

Glad to hear that all is well now and thanks for getting back to us with the update.

I have no idea what glary utilities is but I do know that I would never, never install such. If this software offers something that you feel that you can not live without, then let us know and we will show you how to accomplish the same using the built-in capabilities of Win 7.

That is very good advice Karl.

 

[Layback Bear]

I would recommend before one installed a 3rd party program check here first. That will give that person a good idea what they might be getting into. At that point a informed decision can be made.

 

[Vosberg1]

OK, i will take you up on that. First off, does 7 have a rock finder so that if i have to dig another hole, i wont hit the stupid things? (Just joking). No, the real question, is i do a lot of photography, and i got a little lazy for about 2 months, and just kept copying photos, and there happened to be a lot of dups, cause i did not clear my memory card after. So, i was using a lot of excess room on my external HDD. To try to find the dups, i was refereed to that Glary Utils. Is there a way that i can search for dup files using 7 only? That would help in cause i get busy again like i was...

 

[CarlTR6]

I am not familiar with Glary Utilities; but there are several utilities out there that will find duplicate files. If you use such a utility, only get rid of your duplicate files - the ones you know you created yourself - such as documents, photos, etc. Do not delete a duplicate system file no matter how duplicates a utility may find of it. If you are not sure you created a file; do not delete it. Do not delete any files in system or program folders. Carefully compare the file properties: dates, sizes, etc. You may have two files of the same name in different folders that are two entirely different files. Do not let the utility make the decision for you. Verify each and every duplicate you wish to delete.

As other have said, do not try to tune Windows with a third party tune up utility. There is no program out there anywhere that can improve Win 7's efficiency or speed.

 

[WindowsStar]

OK, i will take you up on that. First off, does 7 have a rock finder so that if i have to dig another hole, i wont hit the stupid things? (Just joking). No, the real question, is i do a lot of photography, and i got a little lazy for about 2 months, and just kept copying photos, and there happened to be a lot of dups, cause i did not clear my memory card after. So, i was using a lot of excess room on my external HDD. To try to find the dups, i was refereed to that Glary Utils. Is there a way that i can search for dup files using 7 only? That would help in cause i get busy again like i was...

Here you go. I have used this many times. I don't like the interface and the checkboxes for picking the files are difficult at best, however it does work. I like that it can find files that are the same but named differently.

(i.e.)

D:\PIX 142K 11-23-2009 Vacation at Mom's Cabin (Around Pond).jpg
D:\PIX\Backup 142K 11-23-2009 Vacation at Mom's House (Lunch on the Pond).jpg
E:\Photos for Mom 142K 11-23-2009 Vacation Pix (Lunch on the Pond).jpg

Will all show up as duplicates and if you open them they are all the same picture. -WS

Duplicate & Same Files Searcher

 

[gregrocker]

Windows Defender has a Software Explorer in its Options which allows you to see a more user friendly listing of what Startup items are than msconfig>Startup. Any that arent clear can be googled to quickly find their purpose.

I'm having trouble finding that, could post a screenshot or give some more info of where I would find that feature. Thanks.

After doing some searching around, it says that software explorer isn't included in my version of windows. Is there a way to get it that you know of? Or do i just need to use something else?

Sorry man, you'll need to install CCleaner which is a great program for cleaning HD. Use the Startup interface on it, or use msconfig>Startup and google the items to know exactly what they are.

There's also a great new program called Soluto with a nice interactive menu which shows what startup items do (google if it doesn't) and recommends which to remove or delay.