You can answer my questions by answering right after the question in your reply.
When you say "the nearly full window of programs has shrunk to one small list."do you mean your
Desktop or what???
I meant the list following selection of Start/Programs. Previously I had a list extending over four columns. Now it has shrunk to one column that does not even reach the bottom of the screen. The Desktop icons were not affected.
I use this list when I do not have the program on the desktop (there would be too many icons if I used the desktop for everything).
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You can also right click on the Programs there and select Send To Desktop to put short cuts back on to your Desktop.This will not move the Program but it will create a new short cut icon on your Desktop.
Try this for MS Word.Then do the same for other Programs whose short cut icons are not on your Desktop.
Since Word is not one of the few remaining in Start/Programs, I cannot do this. So far I have not found the Word exe (because the search function is not working), so I get it running by clicking on an existing word ".doc" file.
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Did you read and follow my Post #4 ??? You must uncheck all the Advanced options on the Windows tab in CCleaner.
Did this, no change
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I will look into the "Search" feature some more. Is there an option in Firefox to turn off Google search in Windows Explorer???
I will check, I think I selected it as the start page but will now select another.
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Has your Start Menu Most Recently Used Programs (on the left of your Start Menu after left clicking on Start) started to refill ??? It should be filling back in.
If you mean the icons above the Programs item on the Start menu (there were about 5), all have gone. Of the items that appear after pressing "Start". I have the following:
Shut-down (works), Run (works), Help (works), Search (NOT WORKING), Settings (works), Documents (works), Programs (as described above, BUT a program I added last night appears at the end of the list.
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I hope this gives you a better picture of my problem.
Many thanks,
Robert