Start Menu / All Programs whacky

[jimhoyle]

I installed Windows 7 a couple of months ago. I didn't fully ever get it how the paths for All Programs work (didn't have any problems in XP). Already then I had some strange problems. I just want a simple way to maintain my All Programs list so that I can easily backup everything from there and so on. I don't need to separate MyUser and All users.

So this basic information I know:
All Users Start Menu
= C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
MyUser Start Menu
= C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

However, for me, also C:\Users\MyUser\Favorites has items that show up in All Programs. I have also seen a double instance of Programs\ in MyUser\ (when looking at the directory listing), which is pretty strange. At some point, I might have renamed something in a manner that destroyed something (Favorites to Programs or similar). However, everything worked well enough until now.

75% of all shortcuts and folders in All Programs just disappeared. I can't find them anywhere, so I assumed they were permanently deleted. I didn't delete nor are they in Recycle Bin. It might've happened while I uninstalled some basic program, don't know.

So maybe I lost the shortcuts. But here are my questions:

- What's the safe directory to put all the shortcuts in so that this doesn't happen again?
- Is it normal/ok that C:\Users\MyUser\Favorites contents is shown in All Programs?
- Why is C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\ the same as C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs? Meaning that if I put something to either, it'll show in All Programs as if it was the same location.
- How to restore default Windows 7 operating system links?
- Where's the location of Win7 Start Menu list (not All Programs list), how to backup that list?

By the way, I have put "Programs >" at the right side of Start Menu so that I can hover through all content in WinXP style. This may have something to do with the problem. I did it like this: Customize Start Menu / Downloads = Display as a menu and it points to C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu and I renamed it to Programs.

 

[jimhoyle]

I just want to add that this is as confusing and erratic as heck. Suddenly there may be items in double in All Programs, no idea where the double actually is located. Whatever I do, it is all absolutely illogical and messy.

 

[jimhoyle]

If there's only one question to ask, it's this one:

How to prevent a second Startup folder from appearing in Start Menu? I already prevented Startup items from loading twice with this instruction: Annoyances.org - Startup Programs Run Twice When Windows Loads , but now I see two Startup folders in Start Menu. If I move one of them or something, it goes totally crazy (lots of items missing etc.), so I have no idea how to fix this.

Both Startup folders has the same location: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Startup (I know that default was \Programs\Startup, but that changed at some point).