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I experienced this issue today:

  • I could open the Start Menu folder by following this workflow: click the Start button -> right clicking "All Programs" and then select "Open All Users".
  • However, when I opened the Run window, typed in it "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" and pressed ENTER, the computer presented the UAC prompt asking if I wanted to open the Airdroid application installed on my computer!!

Since this was unusual, I uninstalled Airdroid and ever since, when I paste "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" and hit enter in the Run window, it doesn't do anything...it simply returns me to Run window again.

I thought this may be a work of some trojan. However a Full System Scan using Microsoft Security Essentials did not return any security hazard. Just to confirm, my MSE updates itself daily and I ran it with all updates installed till date.

So, my question is why is this happening? Why doesn't the Run window open the Start Menu folder?

Don't Root here plz...
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ComputerUser
  • 149

1 Answers1

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I had a similar problem after installing AirDroid. It hijacked my Open All Users command by overwriting the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu.lnk shortcut with one that points to C:\Program Files (x86)\AirDroid\Launcher.exe.

Uninstalling the software doesn't correct the issue; it just makes the command stop working altogether (since the shoftcut target no longer exists).

You need to repair the shortcut manually by pointing it back to the correct location, which should be: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

I emailed the AirDroid developers identifying the issue and chastising them on this. To date, I haven't heard back.

If you're confused about how to fix, perhaps this will help:

enter image description here

rkagerer
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