[Scott99]

I lost all the Start menu "All Programs" items. When I use Windows Explorer
to look in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu I do not see a
"Programs" folder in the left-side folders pane, but if I click the "Start
Menu" folder I DO see a "Programs" folder in the right-side content pane.
Curiously, if I double click this "Programs" folder (which is represented by
a plain folder icon), it now appears in the tree in the left-side pane under
"Start Menu" (where it is represented by a folder icon with a mini
multi-colored icon-view picture in front of it).

At this point, after making the programs folder "visible", the items are
still missing from the Start Menu, even if I reboot (in which case the
programs folder disappears again from the tree in Windows Explorer). How can
I recover these items?