"Run" and "Search" options dissapeared....

I can no longer acesss these commands at all end they dissapeared from my start menu. I'm running WIn XP with all the latest updates, Outpost firewall, AVG antivirus, A-squared, and I cannot isolate the problem or when it happened. THis is very baffling.... Maybe I turned off one of the essential Services??

Please help! Thanks.

 

Have you run any 'tweaking' such as (MS powertoy, or PowerPack )programs recently ?

All these programs do is make a couple of edits in the registry, if this is what happened you can turn them back on with the same program used.

Matt

 

It is possible that someone has simply configured your start menu so that they aren't there! (Not necessarily malware-related.) To toggle these items on/off, please do the following:

1. Right-click the Start button
2. Select 'Properties'
3. Press the 'Customize' button
4. Select the 'Advanced' tab
5. Under 'Start Menu Items' make sure that the check boxes next to 'Run' and 'Search' are checked.
6. Apply your settings.

This should cause the items to re-appear. If this doesn't solve your problem, please post back and we will help you further.

 

I use Registry mechanic and Spybot, hijack this, etc but never had any problems before..
Also the commands have virtually dissapeared form the advanced taskbar properties checklist.. All the rest are there such as control panel, favorites, network, etc. This is very strange..

 

Go with mada_milty on this one I have a memory like a seive.

 

Does re-enabling them work?

 

Yes I can toggle the ones that are there, but Search and run are not available at all.

 

Are you using XP pro or home? You may want to read this article which describes policy settings for the start menu.

 

Pro, and I also have Widow blinds and object dock. I don't know od any conflicts between those and windows though.

 

Since you have pro, I can only surmise that someone might have used a group policy to remove those options from the start menu properties. The article I linked you to has this:

The article has the resolution for this problem.

 

As always I am too late.

you might find this useful

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoRun"=dword:00000000
"NoFind"=dword:00000000

Paste it into notepad and save it as a fix.reg on your desktop and then run it. it should merge the values into your registry and after a reboot hopefully your startmenu will have run and search back.

Matt

 

I'll try this, thanks for the help.