How to restore icons and start menu after virus removal

Have you ever noticed that after you do a virus removal your icons and start menu are still empty? Don't fear because most of the time this can be resolved with a little copy and paste.

First off you want to be able to see the hidden files.

To do this in XP: Open up My Computer and go to Tools tab and select Folder Options.

In the window that appears select View tab and choose the option Show hidden files and folders. Click Apply and OK.

For Windows Vista/7: Open My Computer, go to Organize tab and select Folder and search options.

In the window that appeared select View tab and choose the option Show hidden files, folders, and drives. Click Apply and OK.



Now that we can see hidden files, what we want to do is open a folder called smtmp and copy the contents of the sub-directories to their proper place. This folder will be in your temp directory. This can either be found by entering %temp% in the search bar on windows 7/vista or the run box in XP. The default location for the temp folder is:

Win 95/98/me: C:\Windows\Temp
Windows XP/2000: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\Current User\LOCAL SETTINGS\Temp
Windows Vista / 7: C:\Users\Current User\AppData\Local\Temp

In the temp directory under the folder SMTMP there will be up to 4 sub folders numbered 1 - 4. All you have to do is copy the contents of these folders to their proper place. The proper copy locations are:

%Temp%\smtmp\1:
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

%Temp%\smtmp\2\:
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[your username]\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\
Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\

%Temp%\smtmp\3\:
Windows XP: It does not exist in XP. So, do not worry if you don’t find %Temp%\smtmp\3 on Windows XP.
Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar

%Temp%\smtmp\4\:
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop
Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\Users\Public\Desktop


After copying these files you should restart the machine, and you will now have your start menu items and desktop icons back. If you still cannot see your desktop icons, you should unhide that directory by right clicking it in my computer and clicking properties. Take the check out of the Hidden box.