Missing Start Menu Functions

[groza528]

I picked up some pretty nasty Malware somewhere that tried to shut me out of a lot of computer functions. It hid the start menu shortcuts to My Computer, My Documents, etc. and when I did manage to get into My Computer anyway, the C: drive was hidden. Task manager was somehow disabled (or
Anyway, I think I got rid of the malware and fixed some of those issues, but the My Computer, My Documents etc. are still missing from the start menu. Is there a registry value I can edit to fix this? Obviously I don't want to go digging through the registry unless I know what I'm looking for.

[Dented Ford]

Sounds like you're using XP?
This might help:
http://billjr.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!28CBD6442F406227!723.entry
it seems to describe your malware problem and group policy seems to be the issue.
(Personally if I had an attack that bad I'd backup all the stuff on the PC and do a clean reinstall though - no telling what other glitches may have been created).

[groza528]

I'm hesitant to do so because I can't find my Windows CD. It's my secondary computer anyway. I did consider the possibility though-- at some point I'll probably wipe it and put Ubuntu on.
Edit: Also, thanks!

[Lepton*]

Vote: go with the Ubuntu install now, as it will probably be quicker than trying to fix whatever has been done... and there's a strong chance you'll end up at a point where your only option is to reinstall Windows.

[Bicho the Inhaler]

I hope you do go with Ubuntu. I have both Ubuntu and Windows XP installed on this computer (the latter came with the computer), and I haven't looked back since installing Ubuntu. I have almost never booted into Windows since installing Ubuntu.

Ubuntu has always been happy with my computer's hardware, though, and others are sometimes not so fortunate, so good luck.

[grz*]

Well, unfortunately the method on Ford's link doesn't seem to be working, so it's looking more likely.

[MNOWAX]

you should actually be able to fix it using tweakui?

That is a weird problem there. if i can find a another option ill look for you.
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MNOWAX

[Sessie]

Have you tried re-enabling them through the Customize Start Menu options? Right click taskbar, properties, Start Menu tab, Customize, Advanced and go from there.

I assume from your description that it's not that simple, but it's worth a shot.
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"I have an everyday religion that works for me: love yourself first, and everything else falls into line." --Lucille Ball

[groza528]

Wow, it *was* that easy. Crazy how many little things you might never know about
So here's another one then: when I open properties from the desktop, the one that should give me the chance to change my background, screen saver settings, etc? I get only one tab: "general." Any idea how to get the other tabs back?

[Dented Ford]

Have a look in the registry for HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System entries of the type "NoDispAppearancePage" or "NoDispScrSavPage" with a DWORD value of 1. Set them to 0 or delete them and that should help. If there are any entries there it should be intuitive what tab value is being implied.

Also check under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for the same registry key in case.

Also under the same keys but "Explorer" rather than "System" at the end, look for entries like "NoThemesTab", "ClassicShell", "NoChangingWallPaper" etc.

Alternatively this page suggests back to gpedit : http://www.theeldergeek.com/desktop_tab_missing_from_display.htm for a quick fix if it so happens to be the right fix.

[Sessie]

Glad to be of help

As for display properties, I agree with DF. Sounds like whatever got on your computer really jacked around with your registry.
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"I have an everyday religion that works for me: love yourself first, and everything else falls into line." --Lucille Ball