Quick Launch and MS Office toolbar disappeared?

Gazette Rich K. writes:

" For some reason, my Quick Launch toolbar (near the Start Menu) disappears when I reboot. Oddly enough, I have this same problem with my MS Office short cut bar. Do you have any idea how I can fix this? "

My response:

My Quick Launch toolbar has never disappeared on me, but nonetheless, a number of Gazette Readers have asked me this question before. After querying Google.com for "quick launch disappears after reboot", I came across an online forum at techguy.org which appears to have answered both questions.

RE: Resetting the Quick Launch toolbar

It was suggested that the 'disappearing' quick launch toolbar is a result of malware (Spyware / Adware) which has overwritten a registry key, causing Quick Launch not to appear after a reboot. Resolving this issue involves resetting a value in the System Registry. I have not tested this on my own machine, but a follow-up reply in the techguy forum suggests that the fix works. To quote:

" In Registry Editor (Start > Run... > regedit), navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon. Look for 'Name: Userinit'. In that, you will see 'Data: %system32%\wsaupdater.exe,'. Note that %system32% represents the path to the System32 folder. For example, if the path is C:\Windows\System32, then the data would be: 'C:\Windows\System32\wsaupdater.exe,'

Instead of wsaupdater.exe, the data should contain userinit.exe, (including the comma at the end). Using the example above, the data should now read: C:\Windows\System32\userinit.exe. Make the change accordingly; close the Registry Editor and reboot your computer. "

Side note: always backup your registry before making these changes, as tweaking the wrong value can lead to potentially disastrous results. For more info on the System Registry, please refer to this article.

RE: Microsoft Office Toolbar Shortcut Disappears after Reboot

The suggested fix for this comes from Computing @ UofW Madison.

To quote:

" The [MS Office 2000 toolbar] may have been inadvertently turned off or removed from the Startup Menu. To resolve this problem: Click Start -> Find -> Files and Folders. Type in 'msoffice.exe' (no quotes) as the file to search for; click the search button; there should be a least one entry that display; double left-click on msoffice.exe. The 'Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar' window will be displayed. If you want the 'Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar' or 'quick Launch toolbar' to started when ever the system is booted up, click on the Yes button, otherwise click No. "

Good luck!