"All Programs" are All Gone

I upgraded from vista to 7 last night and now every link there was to every program I had installed that was acessable from "all programs" is gone, it's just a big blank area. There were programs I used infrequently which i would access via this method. I know i can search out now where they are in program files & create a shortcut for the desktop but i prefer to keep it uncluttered as it was before. Also vista, being the goofy program that it was, sometimes would do an install & the only way to access that program was via that "all programs" method. Take my norton360, it's there, somewhere, i know it is, it worked before and I see in the task manager "symantec user session" but 7 keeps telling me that no virus protection is installed. Whats up with that? I paid for a sub for that prog, i hope the answer isn't gonna be 'just dl a new free one off the web"

So how do I get all my links back ?

I know you said you can see it in task manager, but there is no harm in checking.
Firstly if you are using an external device check that it is in.
If your programs are on the same hard drive as you installed the OS, type in the search box one of your programs such as N360. (btw you should use the beta anti-viruses provided by the companies to test out Windows 7, there free as well, and are better prepared for windows 7 than your vista compatable N360.
When you installed Wndows 7, did you click upgrade install? if you pressed clean install, and didnt install it on any other partitions or internal hard drives, then your programs are lost, unless of course you backed them up to a removable medium.
Going back to searching the OS, if you installed the programs on an external device, like i did. Make sure it is included in your search results.

this was an upgrade from vista not a fresh install. I typed in n360 as you suggest and it finds it, the programs all still exist, it's just that their links from the "all programs" menu are gone. it's totally blank.

I also have another printer problem you can see here:
HP Deskjet F4180 All-In-One
so now my printer is totally useless. I was an early adopter of vista and has sorely disappointed in it. so far, for me, this isn't getting off to a good start either

You should do a fresh install and then install all your programs to remove all the glithes like the ones you have here

If you were upgrading to a version that wasn't still being developed, I'd be worried. But any build of Win7 that is out now should be considered dodgy at best.

Upgrades are notorious for causing weird problems. Clean installs are the way to go, it makes tracking down any issues that much easier.

ok if you upgraded, all your programs along with desktop icons are placed with in a folder called windowsold. which can be found
Start>Computer>Crive> windows old. there will be all old windows files folders etc you had on your vista machine. if nto let me knwo I will look deeper in to it for you

I'm using windows 7 for a while and suddenly, I've the same problem.

Hi,

Try looking here :

C:\Users\7\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Type or copy and paste this into start search box:

shell:Programs

Hi,
There is a problem with Windows 7 that if there are more than 70 programs listed in the Start menu they will not display. Go to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and
C:\Users\<your user name>\Appdata\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. Either delete some or arrange them into subfolders so that the total is less than 70.

Remember ProgramData and Appdata are hidden folders. This problem is seen more frequently where an upgrade form Vista is made.

Actually, I did a clean install. I moved all the items into one folder and it appears in the start menu but it is still a weird problem...