Fixing Vista Start Menu

[psimmons4]

I have recently uninstalled a program and forgot to unpin the shortcut from the start menu before removing. After uninstall, I unpinned the item from the start menu. Now there is a blank placeholder for this program in my Start Menu pinned items. I have tried all options available and cannot remove this blank placeholder. Even tried switching to classic and back...no dice. Not a big deal obviously, but very annoying. Is there a way to find this item in the registry and remove it. Any help is greatly appreciated, of course.

Thx!!

Vista Home Prem x86

[psimmons4]

Guess nobody knows on this item, huh?

Edited March 17, 2008 by psimmons4

[Harry_O]

How many occupied slots do you have there apart from the blank one.

[psimmons4]

8 spots filled on the left pane...large icons...(9 spots including the blank space)

only Docs, computer, control panel in right pane, so it should shrink to the left pane icon placeholders, which it does except for the Blank one..

I'd take a snip, but cant pull up start menu while using tool.

Thx

[Grake]

Maybe reinstall the application, delete the start menu item then uninstall?

[psimmons4]

aye..tried uninstall/reinstall...no luck.

ran a ccleaner to find prob entry...no luck there either.

Goofy, huh?

Thx!

Vista Home Prem x86...btw

Edited March 19, 2008 by psimmons4

[Harry_O]

Try to right click the missing shortcut of the uninstalled program and select the properties, then under the the shortcut tab try to change the path of the target file with a path of a different existing application (some other program's .exe). If you can modify it, you will be able to delete the new shortcut.

Or you can try to pin a new set of nine programs to your start menu. I think that the new set will replace the old slots including the blank one.

[psimmons4]

LOL...there is no shortcut on the menu...it's just blank space. If blank space is right clicked, you get...PROPERTIES...the general properties for the taskbar and start menu.

Removed all items from start menu left pane to see if menu would resize and it does not. Shouldn't the start menu resize based on what items are in the right and/or left panes (I only have 4 items in right pane)? This was tru for XP. I have tried every possible way of changing the start menu properties and the icons/shortcuts within the menu with no success. I guess explorer.exe (and hence the start menu) is corrupt slightly?!?! Is there any way to fix explorer.exe without a complete reinstall? This problem, I feel, is at the program level (explorer.exe) and not a problem with actual shortcuts and their modifiers...if that was the case, this problem would have been fixed already.

Also, I've seen registry hax and DWORDS for a couple items having to do with the start menu. Anyone know comprehensive details on start menu registry functions?

Thx,

P

Edited March 25, 2008 by psimmons4

[boston]

I have recently uninstalled a program and forgot to unpin the shortcut from the start menu before removing. After uninstall, I unpinned the item from the start menu. Now there is a blank placeholder for this program in my Start Menu pinned items. I have tried all options available and cannot remove this blank placeholder. Even tried switching to classic and back...no dice. Not a big deal obviously, but very annoying. Is there a way to find this item in the registry and remove it. Any help is greatly appreciated, of course.

Thx!!

Vista Home Prem x86

I think I had the same problem. Saw this post whilst searching for a solution. No obvious answers here yet though, so I had a fiddle around and eventually got the Start Menu to resize and remove the blank spaces. Removed the Phantom Pinned Shortcuts, if you will.

Anyhoo, after much mucking about, I did this:

-Right click on Start Menu.

-Tick/Check 'Store and Display Progs' & Tick/Check 'Store and Display Progs'

-Select 'Customise...' for Start Menu

-Reduce 'Start Menu size' 'No of recent progs to display' to zero

-Untick/Uncheck 'Store and Display Progs' & Untick/Uncheck 'Store and Display Progs'

-Click OK

...and it was sorted.

Sorted for you? Hope so.

[bmhome1]

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus! freeware partially enabled and shareware full functions provides multitudes of Taskbar/Start Menu tools including this situation. It's authored by Kelly's Korner and works in Vista.

[psimmons4]

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!!

Edited May 17, 2008 by psimmons4