Puzzling issue

Hi All,
I have a dell dimension 4100 running Win 98SE.
I don't know what happened but here it is:

when i click on start, programs, the only thing showing is a startup folder
(and its empty). There are no programs listed. If I look in C, Program
Files, all of hte programs are there. Part of my MS Office is missing (like
Word!). I have AVG installed and updated and it saays all is fine.

Can someone shed some light on this issue and maybe tell me what to do
before I format and reinstall. Should I try to install windows ontop of the
existing one to repair any corrupted files? I ran sfc and had to replace
some setup.dll file. Didn't make a difference.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

"lorne" wrote in message
...

when i click on start, programs, the only thing showing is a startup
folder
(and its empty). There are no programs listed. If I look in C, Program
Files, all of hte programs are there. Part of my MS Office is missing
(like
Word!). I have AVG installed and updated and it saays all is fine.

Can someone shed some light on this issue and maybe tell me what to do
before I format and reinstall.

1. c:\windows\start menu\
is just an ordinary folder like any other,
and all it contains is links (to programs)
grouped under
c:\windows\start menu\ programs
c:\windows\start menu\accessories
and so on
and all these folders contain is LNK
(shortcut) files for each pgm you want to
be listed in each group. You can cut and
paste here however you like.

2. If MS Word is missing, you must reinstal
from its CD.

3. Neither problem would be remedied by
reformatting and reinstalling.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)

I guess you are OK with Setupx.dll...

http://search.support.microsoft.com/...SD=GN&LN=EN-US MSKB
Search "setupx.dll"; Windows 98; Full Text; Exact Phrase; does produce
many. Better go look, just to see the kind of errors that would pop up
if you really had a bad one. If you experience no other "setupx.dll"
problem, then do the easier solution in...

http://support.microsoft.com/default...93&Product=w98
Corrupted Setupx.dll After Installing Windows 98 Second Edition
(231793) - After you install Windows 98 Second Edition, you may be
notified by the System File Checker tool (SFC) that the Setupx.dll file
is corrupted.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"lorne" wrote in message
...
| Hi All,
| I have a dell dimension 4100 running Win 98SE.
| I don't know what happened but here it is:
|
| when i click on start, programs, the only thing showing is a startup
folder
| (and its empty). There are no programs listed. If I look in C,
Program
| Files, all of hte programs are there. Part of my MS Office is missing
(like
| Word!). I have AVG installed and updated and it saays all is fine.
|
| Can someone shed some light on this issue and maybe tell me what to do
| before I format and reinstall. Should I try to install windows ontop
of the
| existing one to repair any corrupted files? I ran sfc and had to
replace
| some setup.dll file. Didn't make a difference.
|
| Thanks for any and all suggestions.
|
|

(1) R-Clk the Taskbar, select Properties, Start Menu Programs tab,
Advanced button. Are the programs there? Then, R-Clk the "Programs"
folder, & select Properties. If it is attributed Hidden, then uncheck
that. Check the individual shortcuts too. Also, there should only be
folders & shortcuts there. If you find an actual app, move it out.

(2) "START button, Run, RegEdit", & navigate to...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Exp
lorer

That is,
(a) Click plus signs, beginning at "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" & ending with
"Policies".
(b) Click "Explorer" in the left pane, & look in the right pane.

(c) What do you see there? Anything? If not, then this is not the
problem.

WARNING: Do not get carried away in the Registry. It is very important
to the proper functioning of Windows. Muss it badly, & you must boot to
DOS & "Scanreg /Restore". Then, choose the date of the last successful
boot from the five offered.

The rest of this is just informational...

......Start of Other things that may be done there.......
Right-click the right pane and select New, Binary Value, & name it:

NoClose To disable Shut Down.
NoFavoritesMenu To remove Favorites.
NoFileMenu To remove the File Menu in Explorer.
NoFind To remove Find.
NoLogOff To remove Log Off.
NoRecentDocsHistory To disable the Documents compilation process.
NoRecentDocsMenu To remove Documents.
NoRun To remove Run.
NoSaveSettings To prevent some few settings getting saved to the
Registry.
NoSetFolders To disable Control Panel and Printer folders.
NoTrayContextMenu To disable Taskbar context menu.
NoViewContextMenu To disable (all?) context menus.

Double-click the new entry, select modify, and add this value: 01 00 00
00.
To reverse the action, change the value to: 00 00 00 00
.......End of Other things that may be done there.......

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q130234
Save Settings On Exit Option Enabled by Default
....Quote.............
....snip...
Setting the NoSaveSettings field to 1 prevents your settings from being
saved. When you set this value, the following items are not saved when
you exit Windows:

Changed icon positions on the desktop.
Windows that are open when you exit.
The size and position of the taskbar.
....End quote.......


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"lorne" wrote in message
...
| Hi All,
| I have a dell dimension 4100 running Win 98SE.
| I don't know what happened but here it is:
|
| when i click on start, programs, the only thing showing is a startup
folder
| (and its empty). There are no programs listed. If I look in C,
Program
| Files, all of hte programs are there. Part of my MS Office is missing
(like
| Word!). I have AVG installed and updated and it saays all is fine.
|
| Can someone shed some light on this issue and maybe tell me what to do
| before I format and reinstall. Should I try to install windows ontop
of the
| existing one to repair any corrupted files? I ran sfc and had to
replace
| some setup.dll file. Didn't make a difference.
|
| Thanks for any and all suggestions.
|
|

(a) Better update definitions, & run a virus check.
(b) "START, Run, PolEdit".

Likely, it won't be there, or you'd have known to do that. So...
(BUT the thread I pull this from was about a Network problem... you
would look through PolEdit for something about YOUR SYMPTOM)...

........Quote...............
To install System Policy Editor (poledit.exe), go to Control Panel,
Add/Remove Programs, click the Windows Setup tab and click Have Disk.
In the Install From box, click Browse and browse to the
Tools\Reskit\Netadmin\Poledit folder on the W98 CD. Highlight
poledit.inf and click OK twice. In the Have Disk screen, check the
System Policy Editor box and click Install.

To enable the registry tools, open the Policy Editor, click on File and
Open Registry, double click Local User, click the + sign on W98 System,
click the + on Control Panel, click the + sign on Network and remove the
mark you find there. Ok your way out.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP W98 System
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo
........End quote..of Badour......


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"lorne" wrote in message
...
| Hi All,
| I have a dell dimension 4100 running Win 98SE.
| I don't know what happened but here it is:
|
| when i click on start, programs, the only thing showing is a startup
folder
| (and its empty). There are no programs listed. If I look in C,
Program
| Files, all of hte programs are there. Part of my MS Office is missing
(like
| Word!). I have AVG installed and updated and it saays all is fine.
|
| Can someone shed some light on this issue and maybe tell me what to do
| before I format and reinstall. Should I try to install windows ontop
of the
| existing one to repair any corrupted files? I ran sfc and had to
replace
| some setup.dll file. Didn't make a difference.
|
| Thanks for any and all suggestions.
|
|

Start regedit, expand and highlight the following key, find
"Programs" in the right window and make sure it is set to
"C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs". If it isn't, double-click
it and change it. Then restart the computer.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\Shel=
l Folders

Ben

"lorne" wrote in message =
...
Hi All,
I have a dell dimension 4100 running Win 98SE.
I don't know what happened but here it is:
=20
when i click on start, programs, the only thing showing is a startup =
folder
(and its empty). There are no programs listed. If I look in C, =
Program
Files, all of hte programs are there. Part of my MS Office is missing =
(like
Word!). I have AVG installed and updated and it saays all is fine.
=20
Can someone shed some light on this issue and maybe tell me what to do
before I format and reinstall. Should I try to install windows ontop =
of the
existing one to repair any corrupted files? I ran sfc and had to =
replace
some setup.dll file. Didn't make a difference.
=20
Thanks for any and all suggestions.
=20