program files missing from start button lower left

[vonbmr]

after removing some cheesey reg fix program, all of my program files are no longer accessable from the start button. the files still exist on the c drive. all i want to do is put the files back the start button -program files

[tomshope]

Here is what I have on this subject>>>

Start Menu 'All Programs' is empty or nothing happens when you click the menu
Symptoms
When you click Programs menu in the Start Menu, it may show as (Empty)
Nothing happens when you click All Programs in Start Menu
Not all the shortcuts are displayed.
 
First, login as Administrator (or equivalent) and execute this command from Start, Run dialog:
regsvr32 /i shell32.dll
Restart Windows. If that does not help, inspect and fix the the Shell Folder data for Start Menu, Programs, Common Start Menu and Common Programs.
NOTE: Backup the Registry before modifying it.
 
Typing REGEDIT.EXE in the Start, Run dialog. Fix the data for these four registry values: (The defaults can be taken from here>>>

  http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm
 
Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Common Start Menu
Common Programs
Under HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Start Menu
Programs
If Common Programs value is not available in the right-pane, create a new REG_EXPAND_SZ value named Common Programs and assign the data as said above. Restart Windows for the changes to take effect.