Start menu item duplication

I have a PC with Windows XP Home installed that sometimes shows a duplicate section of items on the Start menu. When you click the Start button, a normal display is shown in the attached image. The items in the red outlined box will sometimes be duplicated, with the duplicates stacked just as they are normally but with one set above the other. So, the four items in the red box will show, and then directly below that they will show again in the same order. If anyone has seen this before or has any idea as to the cause, info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

You could just try running a sfc /scannow and see if that fixes the problem. Usually, a system file scan will repair out of the ordinary problems such as this.

The upper left icons are "pinned" items. The ones blow that are recently/frequently used apps.

Are your pinned icons being duplicated or are they just showing up in the rencent list? How may time a day does it happen?

The pinned items are the ones that are duplicated. So far, it has happened 1-3 times per day.

Next time you see it, hit the F5 key.

Is this a low end pc. (small amount of ram and on board video)

It is an E-Machines T3500 series. It has onboard video and at least 256MB of RAM.

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Originally Posted by jdc2000

I have a PC with Windows XP Home installed that sometimes shows a duplicate section of items on the Start menu. When you click the Start button, a normal display is shown in the attached image. The items in the red outlined box will sometimes be duplicated, with the duplicates stacked just as they are normally but with one set above the other. So, the four items in the red box will show, and then directly below that they will show again in the same order. If anyone has seen this before or has any idea as to the cause, info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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I have EXACTLY the same problem and it is driving me insane! See attached screenshot. It has been doing this for nearly 2 weeks now. I posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support and a MVP replied as follows:

"Perhaps resetting the Pinned items list in the registry might help. Create a System Restore point first, and then try this:

Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
Navigate to the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartP*age

Backup the key to a REG file.
Delete the three values namely "FavoritesResolve", "FavoritesChanges" and
"Favorites"
Close Regedit.exe
Logoff and then log back in."

I have pretty much done this already but will give it another try now. PLEASE let me know if you manage to fix this and I will do the same! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jdc2000

I have a PC with Windows XP Home installed that sometimes shows a duplicate section of items on the Start menu. When you click the Start button, a normal display is shown in the attached image. The items in the red outlined box will sometimes be duplicated, with the duplicates stacked just as they are normally but with one set above the other. So, the four items in the red box will show, and then directly below that they will show again in the same order. If anyone has seen this before or has any idea as to the cause, info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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P.S. I have found that doing nothing more than right-clicking on the Start button and clicking Properties, then OK (without changing any settings) resets it to the correct situation of each program appearing only once.

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Originally Posted by Steve R Jones

Next time you see it, hit the F5 key.

Is this a low end pc. (small amount of ram and on board video)

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F5 doesn't have any effect here.

My PC is home-built, as follows:

Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73 GHz, 512 Mb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 4

You could try the repair corrupt icons option in TweakUI. I haven't had the same problem but I've had other bizarre menu problems solved that way.

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Originally Posted by ProfessorU

You could try the repair corrupt icons option in TweakUI. I haven't had the same problem but I've had other bizarre menu problems solved that way.

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Thanks - I'll try that if the registry hack doesn't work!

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Right-clicking on the Start button and clicking Properties, then OK (without changing any settings) resets it to the correct situation of each program appearing only once.

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This works on the PC I'm having trouble with also. I didn't try the registry hack, but I did look at the keys mentioned. One of them simply has the value of the number of items in the affected part of the Start menu, and that was correct, so changing it wouldn't have done anything.

Unfortunately the registry hack didn't work - the first time I came to use my Start Menu tonight, the pinned items were again duplicated. I left them alone and tried the Rebuild Icons option in TweakUI. This restored the pinned items back to their correct state. The only question now is whether this is a permanent state or whether they will start duplicating again!

Thanks for the update. Please let us know if the TweakUI fix was a permanent one. If I were betting on the outcome, I'd have to bet against it.

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Originally Posted by jdc2000

Thanks for the update. Please let us know if the TweakUI fix was a permanent one. If I were betting on the outcome, I'd have to bet against it.

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You were right - the items have started duplicating again :mad:

Anyone else got any other suggestions please?

You could right click on the Start button then Properties and select the Classic Start Menu if you can stand doing without all that useless extra info and choices that XP serves up as default.

OK, I agree that it is not a solution to your problem but it will at least stop offending your eye!

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Originally Posted by grantandersonuk

You could right click on the Start button then Properties and select the Classic Start Menu if you can stand doing without all that useless extra info and choices that XP serves up as default.

OK, I agree that it is not a solution to your problem but it will at least stop offending your eye!

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Problem is I actually think it IS useful! Looks like I may end up doing a 'repair' installation of XP, unless anyone has any better suggestions (PLEASE!!!)?

If I were betting on whether a repair installation will eliminate the problem, I would probably bet it wouldn't. A clean installation might, at least until you install whatever software item or patch that caused it originally. Please let us know if the repair installation corrects the issue.

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Originally Posted by jdc2000

If I were betting on whether a repair installation will eliminate the problem, I would probably bet it wouldn't. A clean installation might, at least until you install whatever software item or patch that caused it originally. Please let us know if the repair installation corrects the issue.

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OK, will do, if that's what I end up doing!

You reported the problem in the first place though didn't you? I assume you haven't managed to fix it or tried doing a reinstall yourself?

The problem isn't significant enough for me to bother with a re-install. Everything else still works, it is just an annoyance at present. A re-install might fix this problem while creating some even more annoying issues.

Well I did a repair of XP (re-install over itself) and the problem still exists :mad:

Any other suggestions, apart from completely wiping my hard drive and doing a clean install (which I can't spare the time to do at the moment)?

Cheers!

Do you have multiple user profiles in XP? Do they have problems? This could help us figure out which branch of the registry this problem is in.
Could be a corrupt profile config. Try creating a new user and see if you can duplicate the problem.

I would try a parallel install to see if that solves the problem but back up all important data first just in case you lose anything.

http://www.windowsreinstall.co.uk/wi...lell/index.htm shows how

in your start menu, go to 'my computer'.

under 'tools', go to 'folder options' and make it so that you're able to see hidden files.

on the drive that windows xp is installed on, go into 'documents and settings'. in the 'all users' folder, navigate to the 'start menu'. cut all items except that 'startup' folder and then navigate to the same folder under the profile name you are using. paste the items into the folder. go back to the 'all users' area and cut the items from within the 'startup' folder. paste them into the startup folder that corresponds to your profile name.

save all changes and set options back to not show hidden files.

problem solved.

it's an error of some kind that occurs when it's reading from two different profiles and has trouble with it. it's not specific to xp and occurs also in 2k, nt, etc

:)

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Originally Posted by alfabettezoupe

in your start menu, go to 'my computer'.

under 'tools', go to 'folder options' and make it so that you're able to see hidden files.

on the drive that windows xp is installed on, go into 'documents and settings'. in the 'all users' folder, navigate to the 'start menu'. cut all items except that 'startup' folder and then navigate to the same folder under the profile name you are using. paste the items into the folder. go back to the 'all users' area and cut the items from within the 'startup' folder. paste them into the startup folder that corresponds to your profile name.

save all changes and set options back to not show hidden files.

problem solved.

it's an error of some kind that occurs when it's reading from two different profiles and has trouble with it. it's not specific to xp and occurs also in 2k, nt, etc

:)

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Sorry about the late reply, for some reason I didn't get an e-mail notification about your reply and I've just checked back because I've built a new PC since and that is exhibiting the exact same problem!

I'm testing out your solution right now. However, as I am the only user on my PC, and new programs always seem to get installed under 'All Users' rather than under my profile, would it not be more sensible to move all my profile's Start Menu under All Users, rather than the other way round? If not then it will be an ongoing task to move the items EVERY time I install a program, won't it?

Thanks for replying and I'll let you know if your fix works here :)

I came to this forum through a Google search & I found this thread helpful yet there did not appear to be a decisive answer to this dilemma which I was experiencing with my pc. I used some of this information & expanded on it. Here is my findings & solution (which I hope might help others):
I found an application shortcut had been duplicated in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs &
C:\Documents and Settings\userxxx\Start Menu\Programs,
the culprit being WinRAR. The fix for this was simply to uninstall/install WinRAR. Good luck everyone.

I love it when we attract new members with old threads!
:) Good for business around here.