Inconsistent, often slow and sometimes complete failure to display of Start Menu Items

from Stardock Forums

I tried posting this in the 2.11 megathread but got no comments at all so thought it worth reposting here to see if it is a recognised bug.  I'm close to having to uninstall Start11 as it's becoming unusable.

Description of problem:  Inconsistent, often slow, display of start menu items.

Start11 2.11 with Windows 11 Version 24H2 (OS Build 26100.2033)

I'm using the "Modern Style" start menu but see the problem in all of the styles.  

Often when I open the start menu program items are not populuated in the left column (Modern Style) which should show pinned and Most Recently used programs.  The "All Programs" and "Universal applications" submenus work fine as does search.  If I wait a while (1 minute) with the start menu open, it sometimes shows the required content.

I can close and open the start menu repeatedly and sometimes the content shows, then disappears, then shows, the disappears.

 

Sometimes this                                                                          Sometimes this.

Start 10 and 11 did used to work fine on my machine so I don't think it's down to the number of sheer number of start menu items (about 900).  I also don't believe the problem was introduced with 24H2 but can't be sure.

I've tried uninstalling, rebooting, installing 2.11 as adminstrator.  No change.

Have you seen anything like this and is there a solution ?

start menu products
2,048 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. But, I can not recreate your issue on my system. Refer short video below.

Need more information. Post a video on your issue so we understand it better.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Here is a video

  • 0:00 Open Start 11 and it comes up empty
  • 0:07 the cursor stops blinking - it's probably emunerating the start menu directories (user and system) and also the JumpList entries for relevant programs
  • 0:12 Menu Appears though cursor only start blinking again at 0:17
  • 0:18 Search box functions normally
  • 0:22 - 0:47 Normal behaviour
  • 0:48 Do something with Start11 - launch Notepad
  • 0:56 Start11 empty again - it's probably building the menu again

So there is a really long delay in building the menu (12 seconds) and any change to the menu items of jumplists causes it to rebuild again.

It would be good of there was a way of seeing it enumerate the start menu items and jumplists - but I've tried tracing in SysInternals Procmon and I can't identify it.

I get the same behaviour if I disable JumpLists (most recently used documents in Settings)

I've also tried dramatically culling my start meny down to approximately 100 items and it makes no difference, which pointed at Jumplists but as I said I tested with those turned off.

Not sure if there is anything else to try. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG-ig2hOH3U&ab_channel=KevinMarchant

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

That is a really long time for Start panel to load. First, please try purge and reinstall steps as mention here : [Link]. Just make sure to redownload the latest version from your account page. Reboot after the purge. Reinstall and reboot again after the installation. Retest and report back here.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks Basj.  Whilst the purge/reinstall didn't make any difference, the suggestion to test using a fresh account / user profile did.

Start11 seems to work fine in a fresh account - with much the same number of start menu items as I keep most of my icons in the shared "c:\programdata\microsoft\windows\start menu".  I've also mostly ruled out Jumplists as disabling these did not resolve the issue.

This leads me to the conclusion that either my user profile has a problem or there is a conflicting program running in my main account that's causing the slow down.  Given that this issue appears to affect only me, I'll have to perserver and try to identity what it is on my PC causing it - I'll see if SysInternals Autoruns points me at anything.

I found a couple of forum posts about possibly conflicting software.  Do you have a list of possible contenders here - software known to interact with Start11?

I'll report back if I manage to solve it.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting marchk01, reply 4

Do you have a list of possible contenders here - software known to interact with Start11?
End of marchk01's quote

Unfortunately no, since those conflicting software keep evolving themself so it might not causing an issue with their newer version. But, if I remember correctly, usually, software that change how Startpanel, taskbar, Explorer work might causing conflicts. Software such as DisplayFusion, ExplorerPatcher etc.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Thought I'd cracked it.  Problem back this morning