Shut Down Has Vanished From My Start Menu

[Brode]

Sat down today and booted my Windows ME machine as always, except that it came up with an error message (no, I didn't write down what it was) and wouldn't boot. Rebooted into Safe Mode and everything seemed fine--except that the "Shut Down" item was missing from the Start Menu and when I rightclicked on anything in the Start Menu I didn't get the usual menu.

I control-alt-deleted out of safe mode and Windows then opened normally...but still no Shut Down item and nothing appearing when I rightclick. A virus check shows no new viruses.

What do I do?

Thanks,

Brody

 

[PAndersen]

A trojan or virus may have generated a change in the registry. Run REGEDIT and go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
If there is a value , NoClose = 1 , change it to 0 or delete the value.

 

[Brode]

Thanks PAnderson.

The good news is that I found the key and changed it as you suggested.

The bad news is that it didn't return "shut down" to the Start Menu or allow any right clicking on Start Menu items.

However, it turns out that Task Manager had also been screwed up--Shut Down was grayed out--and now, with the value you listed set at 0 Shut Down has returned to TM. (The computer is my wife's, which is why I didn't quite know all the details of the problem when I first posted.)

I noticed another Registry Key above the one for Explorer that said "Start Menu." Would this one also need to be investigated and changed? I don't want to mess with it unless I know for sure because if I mess up my wife's computer even more I'm toast. (And so is our bookkeeping.)

Thanks,

Brody

 

[PAndersen]

These references may be of interest for you :

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/tmcd2/Start.htm

http://www.jsiinc.com/suba/tip0000/rh0050.htm

For safety reasons, export the registry before editing.

 

[SkipCox]

Try using system restore to a date where everything worked...27th or 28th.

Skip

http://home.comcast.net/~skip9/index.html

http://scc.i8.com

 

[Brode]

Strangely, shutting down via Task Manager and then rebooting did whatever was necessary for the change I made to the registry to take effect and "Shut Down" to return to the Start Menu.

At least I think that's what caused it. Could be that only the Computer God knows.

Thanks all,

Brody