Start/All Programs Alignment

I have just noticed a problem on my wife's computer.

The window that opens when I click Start/All Programs is too low down the screen. There is a half inch gap at the top and the bottom is off the bottom of the screen. I cannot repeat this problem with any other window.

I can find no reference to this problem anywhere on Microsoft's website or anywhere else for that matter.

Has anyone any idea of a cure, please? Perhaps someone knows of a Registry setting that can adjust this window?

 

Hi PeteC,

Thank you for your reply. I tried this but unfortunately it has made no difference.

 

Sorry about this but I had already tried both of those options.

The bottom of the window still scrolls off the bottom of the screen so you cannot see the scroll arrow in the first suggestion and the second suggestion just made no difference.

I'm sure that the clue is that the top of the window is also too far down the screen. In other words the whole window has dropped by about half an inch.

I'm afraid that this is a really strange one.

 

I have the scoll box unchecked but cannot find a personalise menus option.

 

I'm trying the system file scanner. It is taking a very long time so I will leave it running overnight. I'll report success or otherwise in the morning.

 

Are you sure it's not your monitor screen that isn't adjusted properly?

 

Yes, positive. It is only this one window that is affected. Everything else is perfect.

 

Your wallpaper/background is properly centered and touches top to bottom and side to side?

Can you do a Print Screen, host the image at http://xs.to/ then provide the link to the image?

 

Not at the moment. System File Scanner is still running. If that doesn't cure it I'll post a screen capture tomorrow.

 

Well, System File Scanner did not cure the problem so
here is the screen capture as requested.

Link

 

What screen resolution and refresh rate are you running on her computer?

Why I ask is I see you have 32 menu items in the full size (left) column and I can't duplicate that on my monitor. I can get either 29 or 38 by changing the Resolution but not 32.

If you are running a refresh rate that is not supported by the video adapter, you may get strange effects like this. Just guessing though. For a test, set the refresh rate at 60 hertz. If no joy then leave it there and set the resolution at 800 X 600 for another test.

Post back your results of those tests. It's possible you have a video driver that is corrupt (reload with latest updated) or else the video hardware is going south.

 

I would try tidying up the All Programs menu by creating new folders then arranging the programs into those folders.

You can browse to X:\Documents and Settings\User name\Start Menu\Programs (where X: is the partition/drive that XP is installed on). Click on the Programs folder in the left window then right click on a blank area in the right window and select New Folder. Name it anything that describes what program you will be migrating into it.

Start Menu\Programs image

Once you have created the folders you can then click on the Start button and open the All Programs menu. Left click with your mouse on the program you wish to move into a folder and drag it into that folder.

Tidy All programs menu image

At one time I had a menu such as you are dealing with. It was a pain looking for something in the menu plus looked ratty.

 

The screen resolution is 1024 x 768; refresh rate 60Hz

I tried 800 x 600 and it has made no difference. Please remember that this "All Programs" window is the only one that does this. For instance, the Control Panel window fits perfectly. If it was a video driver or hardware, the misalignment would not be confined to the one window.

 

My wife does not want to have many levels to click through and, in any case, this will not correct the problem; merely wallpaper over the cracks. I would like to solve this problem completely.

There just has to be a setting in the registry for this alignment but I cannot find it.

 

Maybe u just check a wrong check box.
creat a new admin_user, and try again.