I've done some reading on this, and tried a few things. (dont remember now, it's been so long.... and still a problem) I click the START menu. The first "stage" or "level" of default shortcuts pop up, along with any that I have created within the Start menu. At this point- it freezes, and for a long time. That is, anything that has another drop-down menu (next "level"/"stage") -- aint gonna happen anytime soon. Usually my repeat clicking results in an explorer window eventually opening. As you may know, sometimes the shortcut I'm seeking will be there- sometimes not. I'm guessing this has something to do with which USER the shortcut exists under, or was created by? Even though I'm always logged in as administrator, the items I add dont always appear in the explorer pane. (another of dozens of issues plaguing me, in using Windows) I have tried "Shell-Exview"(think it's called) I will try removing more 3rd party context menu items. But I'd like to inject this into the discussion. USER FOLDERS ?? or Profiles. Why would the shortcuts for programs I have installed- or ones that I have created myself - be spread all over the place in the various User folders? It cant be dependent on how I was logged in, because the user isn't asked "which User folder would you like this app's shortcuts to appear within?.. during the installation. Ok, granted... sometimes, yes to that. But easily less than 50%, in my opinion. I'm leading to this - "would it help if all optional and user created shortcuts were found in the logged in User profiles? (it's just always bugged me, when I cant find one I'm looking to delete, move, or copy for ex.) OH.. just remembered one of the other solutions I tried. UN-checking an item in the START menu settings, to do with showing NEW or RECENT apps used? It didnt help, and it also turned off "RECENT" docs, which I didnt like ! Any new or "improved"(?ha) thoughts on this? Thanks.
Dani AI
As described, the Start menu opening the first-level items but then stalling when nested submenus appear is usually Explorer hanging while it tries to enumerate and resolve every shortcut it finds. Typical causes are shortcuts that point to unavailable network or removable locations, buggy third‑party shell extensions, or a corrupted icon/Start‑menu cache. Windows also merges two Start Menu locations, which explains why shortcuts seem “scattered.”
Windows merges these two folders: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs (All Users) and %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs (current user). Many installers write to one or the other based on whether the installer ran elevated, so shortcuts can legitimately end up in different places without prompting.
Recommended troubleshooting sequence:
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Inspect both Start Menu folders and check .lnk targets for network UNC paths (\server\share) or removable-drive letters. Temporarily move suspicious .lnk files out of the Start Menu into a test folder to see if the freeze stops.
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Disable non‑Microsoft shell extensions (ShellExView or Autoruns). Restart Explorer afterward:
taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe start explorer.exe -
Perform a clean boot (msconfig → disable non‑Microsoft services/startup) to rule out third‑party services.
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Create a new local user account to confirm whether this is profile‑specific; if the new profile is clean, migrate Start Menu items from the old profile or from
C:\ProgramData\...after pruning bad shortcuts. -
Run system checks and cache rebuilds from an elevated command prompt:
sfc /scannow taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe del /AH "%localappdata%\IconCache.db" start explorer.exe -
Check Event Viewer (Application/System) for Explorer/timeout entries.
Notes and cautions: back up any Start Menu shortcuts before deleting or moving them. Disabling “Show recent programs” only hides symptoms; it won’t fix slow enumeration. If none of the above helps, the problem is often a corrupted profile or a deep Explorer/OS issue that a repair install or profile rebuild will resolve.
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