Windows 7 Start Menu - Cannot Add New Pinned Item

System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1
Two users on sysem: Admin - administrator account, David - standard account

Recently had the OS reinstalled when the hard drive was replaced. When I log into the 'David' account. I cannot add an item to the start menu. This worked fine before I had the OS replaced, but does not work now.
For example, if I go to the folder C:\Apps\FormatFactory and right click on the executable FormatFactory.exe and choose "pin to start menu", I expect that when I click on Start in the 'David' account, I will see FormatFactory somewhere in the Start menu. Does not happen. If I log into the 'Admin' account, I also do not see FormatFactory.exe anywhere in the start menu. Any idea how to fix this? Is there another way to add this item to the Start menu? Am I missing something?

 

Some executables can only be run with Admin privileges and FormatFactory sounds very much like such a program, as formatting can have major effects on systems. Are you able to add less intrusive software to the Start menu, such as SpywareBlaster? You can always remove it later if you don't want it.

 

Interesting thought... I checked and FormatFactory does not require Admin privileges. I can cleanly execute it from either account. But even in the Admin account trying to pin the item does not work.

BUT - here is another clue. When I right click on FormatFactory.exe I see in the menu "Unpin from start menu". HUH?? I don't get it. If this item was pinned, why does it not show up when I click on the Start button or even if when clicking on Start, not show up when I click on "All Programs"? Very strange!

 

GoshenGeek...

What is your security software? I wonder if it has blocked that particular program from being pinned, since a formatter could be considered a dangerous program. I know security programs block key finder installers and programs like mouse macro programs and command prompt monitors and so on. This is because they can be seen as a risk to the system or potentially a tool placed by malware. Also, my security a-v, 360 Total Security, monitors start ups. Maybe yours monitors pinned items...

 

When an item is pinned to the Start menu in Win 7 it appears right at the top of the popup list, not in the frequently used or All Programs lists. Could it be you are simply not seeing it?

 

AtlBo & Earthling -- thank you for your suggestions. Both are good but (sigh...) neither worked.
(1) My security software is Avira. I turned it off - no difference, still can not pin an item.
(2) "Could it be you are simply not seeing it?" -- I wish it was that simple. It is not there.
(3) I tried SpywareBlaster. When this program installed, it created a folder in the startup list of programs. But when I right clicked on the executable and tried to pin it, again nothing happened. If I right clicked again, I was able to unpin it, which makes no sense since it was never pinned.

 

It seems like something (some sort of program) is zoning or has zoned that feature out of the programs areas of your PC or has broken the function. wonder if your a-v has zoned off the Program Files areas from that function. Can you pin an .exe from the desktop or say for example the Downloads folder?

OK, I just found this while looking for a MS hotfix on Google:

http://www.troublefixers.com/solved...s-to-taskbar-or-start-menu-in-windows-7-or-8/

It's just a suspicion, but I suspect you have some registry corruption of some kind. This is based on what I am seeing when Googling the issue...

SFC /scannow is something you can easily enough try, so I would try that first...

 

AtlBo: I tried SFC /scannow and it DID find corrupted files which it was able to fix. But this did not fix the start menu problem. Also I tried the first 2 solutions in the link you sent. No change. I am hesitant of trying the 3rd solution since it involves registry changes, and this always makes me nervous. Comments?

dr.moriarty: Good quesion. I do use CCleaner. I tried uninstalling CCleaner to see if that fixed the problem -- Nope!!

I did find that I could manually place items in the startup folder and that would work.

One other clue. I actually have 3 user accounts: 2 with administrator privileges and 1 standard user. I find that one of the administrator accounts can successfully pin items to the start menu BUT the other administrator account and the standard user account cannot. Very weird.