Start menu basic items missing after virus removal WIN XP

[xxsilk109xx]

I have seen this a couple times lately. Virus hides all desktop icons and everything from the start menu, including - my computer, control panel, etc.

I have manually removed the virus as well as ran virus scans, I then ran unhide.exe and it restored display to all the files, etc.

Only problem is that My computer, control panel, etc is still missing. I have tried googling this issue, but I am not sure exactly how to ask this question effectively in google haha.

Any ideas would be great!!
Thanks

 

[Xander]

Some move the Start Menu contents into the Temp folder. Have you flushed?

 

[MobileTechie]

D7 has a tool for restoring moved shortcuts. Some viruses just mess with the start menu settings and so defaulting them will make some appear.

You definitely do not want to be deleting temp files as your first step with these infections or you risk losing the links forever.

 

[Encrypted Existence]

Or you could try something like re-enable or tweaking.com windows repair.

 

[xxsilk109xx]

Ok let me check, customer has tried to repair it somewhat themselves, looks like ccleaner has been ran (customer installed).

I will try suggestions! Thanks!

 

[iisjman07]

Had a similar issue recently. The reason it wasn't picked up by mbam or whatever is because it's a legitimate windows function. I think you need to right click on your taskbar and select the 'Start Menu' tab. Choose the 'Advanced' tab, then choose the appropriate missing items and choose to 'Display as a menu'.

Doing this from memory, if you need more help then post back

Edit: link - this explains what I mean... do this for everything missing

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

Have a look in http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic401172.html for some links to restore the default ones.

 

[phaZed]

Had a similar issue recently. The reason it wasn't picked up by mbam or whatever is because it's a legitimate windows function. I think you need to right click on your taskbar and select the 'Start Menu' tab. Choose the 'Advanced' tab, then choose the appropriate missing items and choose to 'Display as a menu'.

Doing this from memory, if you need more help then post back

Edit: link - this explains what I mean... do this for everything missing

^This is what I was going to suggest.

 

[FoolishTech]

D7 has a tool for restoring moved shortcuts. Some viruses just mess with the start menu settings and so defaulting them will make some appear.

You definitely do not want to be deleting temp files as your first step with these infections or you risk losing the links forever.

Yep. FYI MT, D7 5.2.30 now restores default start menu settings (i.e. my documents, my computer, run box, etc. aren't displayed) as part of that routine, in addition to moving back the shortcuts and unhiding everything.

Trick is for the start menu setting defaults to take effect, you MUST logoff/on again to see everything back the way it should be. I've looked for some way to refresh the taskbar/start menu without logoff/logon but I can't find a way to get it done.

The only thing I restore that is non-default is, as a matter of personal preference, adding a link to the Downloads folder on the start menu of Vista/7

 

[phaZed]

Trick is for the start menu setting defaults to take effect, you MUST logoff/on again to see everything back the way it should be. I've looked for some way to refresh the taskbar/start menu without logoff/logon but I can't find a way to get it done.

I would have thought that killing explorer.exe and running it again would refresh the SM? Hmm.

 

[FoolishTech]

I would have thought that killing explorer.exe and running it again would refresh the SM? Hmm.

Dang it sure does. Seems like there was a reason I didn't try that. Hmm... well I don't remember now so I might as well throw that into D7 after the fix...

 

[phaZed]

Your awesome FoolishTech. If I were near you, I would buy you lunch.

 

[xxsilk109xx]

liljisman had the the fix that worked for me, restarting explorer.exe did not do it for some reason...

thanks for the tips and link!!

FoolishTech, I would buy you lunch too

 

[pctechit]

I have seen a couple different locations, but the one I seem to see the most is here: C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Local Settings\Temp\smtmp

Inside the smtmp folder you will see three folders named 1, 2, 4

1 = Start Menu Program shortcuts
2 = Current User Quick Start shortcuts
4 = All Users Desktop folders and shortcuts

Simply copy the shortcuts in the folder back to their original path.

 

[FoolishTech]

I have seen a couple different locations, but the one I seem to see the most is here: C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Local Settings\Temp\smtmp

Inside the smtmp folder you will see three folders named 1, 2, 4

1 = Start Menu Program shortcuts
2 = Current User Quick Start shortcuts
4 = All Users Desktop folders and shortcuts

Simply copy the shortcuts in the folder back to their original path.

Welcome to the forums, glad you could stop in!

We've not been talking about the moved shortcuts, but rather the disabled display of start menu items like My Documents, My Pictures, My Computer, Run box, etc. etc. and tools to automatically re-enable those items without having to manually do it.