XP START - All Programs lists wrong programs

[Hari Seldon]

I bought a couple of new hard drives. After reinstalling Windows XP Pro and setting up the family's 4 User Accounts, I noticed that when I click on START - All Programs, Windows displays my wife's list of All Programs instead of mine.
I have more Administrative type programs in my All Programs folder than I have in those folders for the rest of the family. The folder I am talking about is located at: C:\Documents and Settings\Hari\Start Menu\Programs.
I've logged on to all of the rest of the family's User Accounts, and verfied that when I click on START - All Programs, the correct list of programs is displayed.
It appears that Windows displays correctly My Music, My Pictures, etc..., but when I click on START - All Programs, I get my wife's folder (the second account created) instead of mine.

Also, when I install a new program, the new program often creates its shortcuts in my wife's folder, instead of mine. This happens everytime unless these shortcuts are placed in a folder for All Users.

How do I correct this without reinstalling Windows? Surely there is a registry key or somewhere where Windows is being misdirected.

Dazed and Confused.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Is backing up and killing both profiles an option?

 

[bwatson283]

Will it kill you to manually add the ones you need?

 

[Hari Seldon]

Thanks anyways everyone, but i finally figured out the solution myself. (Thanks to those of you who have read this post.)

At first I was totally surprised that no one at (what I feel is) the best computer and tech forum could tell me the solution or help me find the solution, but I had sent the answer at the same time to LEO at the LAB, and it was too tough for him and his crew too, so not to worry. I kinow it was an esprecially difficult problem and I still consider AnandTech to be top level.
I'm just glad I was able to figure it out, since none of the simple-minded solutions could work

WATCH IT! THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

 

[dclive]

OK, so what's the solution? After a wind-up like that, I'd expect a fully detailed post with full information on exactly what the problem is, Microsoft KB articles, and more!

 

[Hari Seldon]

Of course you're right. An oversight. Hopefully this will explain and be helpful to someone.

The Problem:
When I click START - All Programs, the list displayed is not my (user account) list, but is my wife's. When I download a program, it asks me whether I want it to create a shortcut in the desktop folder, showing my wife's name instead of mine.
My user account is the only one in which this odd problem occurs.

The Cause of the Problem:
The registry was corrupted, despite this being a very recent fresh reinstall (due to a problem with Nero 7 that was fixed by having a clean install of Windows) - but I digress.
How the registry became corrupted, I don't know.

The Solution:
Click START - Run. Enter "regedit" and click OK. This gets you into the Operating System Registry. (Important - Many users advise that you should backup the Registry before you make any changes.)

Select HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Shell Folders.
Three (3) entries were mistakenly showing my wife's name instead of my name. These entry names were:
1) Programs
2) Start Menu
3) Startup

I changed the user name in all three entries to my name, so that they read:
1) C:\Documents and Settings\Hari\Start Menu\Programs
2) C:\Documents and Settings\Hari\Start Menu
3) C:\Documents and Settings\Hari\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
To make these changes, you right-click on the entry names, and select Modify. A box called Edit String appears. Change the information in the box called Value Data, and click OK to make your modification final.

When you have to make changes to your Registry, it's nice to know the structure and layout of the Registry. And it's helpful to know that you can make some changes with confidence that it will fix your problem.
For more information on the Registry structure and layout, and how to backup and restore your Registry, click this link:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/windows_xp_registry.htm

 

[piasabird]

I think MS has a thing you can download from their update site for control of who has access to which programs. Have you ever looked at that?

One thing you might consider is the danger of when one person is on the computer and then the next person wants to use it and you dont log off, and the next person does not swtich users. Then they install programs onto your user account. There may be some things that would help with this like haveing a screen saver on your account with a password. (Just dont forget it.)

The best way is to logoff when you are done and always check the user when you start.

Another thing might be to make all the programs accessible by everyone.

When do you get to use the computer with 4 users?

I usually make a new account for the administrator and then delete the default administrator account. Too many hackers know what the default account is and what the default password is.

I hope you updated the install with all the windows updates.

 

[imported_Baloo]

The all programs folder is going to be the same for all users. It ain't yours or your wife's all programs folder, it your computer's all programs folder.

Edit: If I understand correctly, it was showing your wife's start menu programs folder, not the all programs folder. You fixed it, so good job.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Thanks for the tips piasabird and Baloo.

All the users are family members, two with Limited Accounts. We don't want all the PROGRAMS to be available to the children easily through the Start menu. So ALL the programs are made available to the parents but not the children.
By clicking START - My Computer - Local Disk (C - Documents and Settings - All Users - Start Menu, I have selected which programs everyone can see. Programs that only the parents can see are located in the parents' Start Menu folder, which is found by following the same route.
The problem was - when I clicked on START - All Programs, the list displayed was not mine, located at START - My Computer - Local Disk (C - Documents and Settings - Hari - Start Menu, but instead was my wife's which is located in a different folder. In my folder are many Security and Maintenance programs that I don't want her mucking about with.
So I have ALL programs displayed, my wife has more than the children but less than me, and the children have only the programs that interest them.

"When do you get to use the computer with 4 users?" :laugh: Yeah, that's funny you should ask - because it's after midnight and I was just able to use it. I built it. I should be the only one allowed to use it eh?

How do you delete the account for the default administrator - I can't even find that user anymore? Is it not supposed to be displayed on the Welcome screen, or wouldn't it be displayed on the Welcome screen if I deleted all the User Accounts ( which I wouldn't do)? Why can't I see it somewhere?
By making an account for the administrator, I assume you mean USER #1 (in my case that would be me)?

I manually update all the time. On a fresh install, it is the very first thing I do after plugging in the Net connection.

"The all programs folder is going to be the same for all users." I think you're thinking of the Programs Files folder, located at Local Disk (C - Program Files.

For a mysterious reason, the registry got changed at the location I described in the above post, and altered the folder that it was directed to when I clicked on START - All Programs.
For another mysterious reason, I found that location and fixed the three Registry keys.