W7 Start menu has a mind of it's own.

Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
Forum Member
Anybody else noticed this?

Seems like sometimes I'll click on Start and the list of programs displayed is completely random.

Over the last few days, for example, I've been adding drawings to documents and, as a result, the only programs in my Start menu are stuff like Visio, AutoCAD, Sketchup, FreeCAD, Word, Acrobat etc, which is as it should be because they're the programs I've been using recently.

But, for no apparent reason, this morning when I clicked Start the menu was populated exclusively be a bunch of games which I haven't played in months or, in some cases, even years. :confused:

The computer hasn't even been rebooted since the last time it was used.
It just seems like, after I went to bed last night, my PC thought to itself "Y'know, he's been doing wayyy too much serious stuff over the last few days. He needs to lighten up so I'm gonna offer him a bunch of games to play!".

Anybody else get this or know what's causing my PC to populate my Start menu with apparently random junk? :confused:

Comments

  • Zack06Zack06 Posts: 28,304
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    If you upgraded to Windows 8, you wouldn't have this problem. :)
  • evil cevil c Posts: 7,833
    Forum Member
    This is a pure guess. Maybe Windows is displaying infrequently run programs to remind you that you haven't used them for x amount of time, then it refreshes every 6 months or something. Perhaps you set something up unknowingly or Windows is performing an automatic reminder to give you the option to remove these programs. Mind you it doesn't happen to me so this guess is probably wrong.

    Another guess. An AV program is running on startup and checking the old games. Windows flags them as recently opened and puts them in the left pane. This doesn't happen to me either, but I don't run an AV check on startup and I have unchecked the recently started options.
  • IvanIVIvanIV Posts: 30,301
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    Don't piss it off, it may go away :p
  • DaedrothDaedroth Posts: 3,065
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    Have you updated the programmes recently, the ones that have started appearing in the list? Sometimes updating a programme can make Windows 7 think its a newly installed programme, which get put in the start menu, usually highlighted in a pale orange colour.
  • John259John259 Posts: 28,325
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    This might be worth doing:

    Right-click the Start button > Properties
    Check that the options are what you want, including the numerous Customize options.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,078
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    Si_Crewe wrote: »
    Anybody else noticed this?

    tl:dr

    Is it a bad thing? Why shouldn't Windows have a mind of it's own? I mean, it's not as if you can rely on the users to know what they want....

    ;)
  • cnbcwatchercnbcwatcher Posts: 56,681
    Forum Member
    Maybe play some of the games for a while before putting your work stuff back :D
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