Hey folks, thx for the posts... boston: I agree that your solution should be a fix, however, I have already tried your method and it will not solve the problem I described. I don't believe this is a "sorting" issue...when I apply the steps you outlined, the start menu items sort as they should, but the blank space still exists. bmhome1: Thank you for the information concerning Taskbar Repair Tool...while I find this tool is great for fixing some issues, it does not address any issues with the Start Menu itself...the only option in Taskbar Repair Tool concerning the start menu is to enable/disable it completely. BTW...almost all items included in Taskbar Repair Tool are available in PROPERTIES under startmenu/taskbar. Also, my research has lead me to a few 3rd party progs that run a startmenu, however, I don't think it should be necessary to run another program for start menu funcionality. All Windows versions have a start menu that functions just fine (unless you're organizing an large amount of items) and running another program to cover up problems with the OS's built-in functions is not a solution, it's a band-aid. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think that start menu functions are part of explorer.exe..can explorer.exe be repaired? Are there registry hax for explorer items? Of course, I know there are registry entries for some explorer items (context menu, sizing, etc.), but none I have seen so far that are specific to the start menu itself. Thx to all for responses...I know this is a rather minor issue, but it's interesting to find such a seemingly simple problem with no real solution...GO VISTA!!