Microsoft Windows Start Menu Issue Now Fixed

Teejay Boris, Tech Times 13 January 2023, 08:01 pm

The Microsoft Windows Start Menu issue caused by a buggy Microsoft Defender update has now been fixed. Some users were surprised when the Start Menu, taskbar, and app shortcuts vanished into thin air.

But the Redmond-based tech firm now says that the issue has been resolved. Here's what happened in the first place.

(Photo : Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 2: A view of the new Microsoft Surface Laptop following a Microsoft launch event, May 2, 2017 in New York City. The Windows 10 S operating system is geared toward the education market and is Microsoft's answer to Google's Chrome OS.

Microsoft Windows Start Menu, App Shortcuts Issue

The Start menu, taskbar, and app shortcuts are essential features for Windows. It lets users easily access and launch files, programs, and settings, among other stuff.

So if app shortcuts and the Start menu are disappearing, it means that there is some sort of problem, either a bug with the operating system (OS) or an issue with a program.

It turns out that the latest issue is the latter. As per a recent report by Bleeping Computer, the renowned software maker confirmed that a new Microsoft Defender ASR rule ended up deleting app shortcuts, the taskbar, and the Start menu.

With the issue, users were temporarily unable to find their Start menu and taskbar due to the buggy Defender ASR rule.

Bleeping Computer notes in its news story that the ASR rule is not supposed to strike out these essential Windows features. Instead, it should help block any potential malware from exploiting the system using VBA macros.

But this time, the Defender ASR rule went on to falsely tag app shortcuts as malicious. So this misbehavior ended up deleting them, along with the taskbar and the Start menu.

Given that these are essential parts of the operating system, it might have been a frustrating issue for users that have encountered it.

The official Twitter account of Microsoft 365 Status tweeted that they have "identified that a specific rule was resulting in impact." With that, they have already "reverted the rule to prevent further impact whilst we investigate further."

The tech giant added that it might take several hours before all affected users get their hands on the fix.

Start Menu Issue Now Fixed, But Shortcuts Remain Deleted

The Verge notes in its latest story that Microsoft announced that it has already fixed the issues, which means that the missing Start menu should be back. However, the tech giant says that the deleted shortcuts are not coming but automatically.

The news outlet reports that the giant firm took hours before it started rolling out its fix.

The tech giant told affected users that "installing security intelligence update build 1.381.2164.0 or later should prevent the issue."

But here is the problem: the deleted shortcuts due to the bug will not be restored. And as such, users would have to go over them again like when their systems were brand new.