help me please: ERROR-No Program Start menu found. How do I f

[=?Utf-8?B?SkQ=?=]

ok, I got a windows xp home edition computer from my friend, it is a custom
made one. The windows xp is an OEM product, so microsoft is willing to charge
me $59 to tell me how to fix it since its not insured... I searched under
Find Error Message on the site and it wasn't there. I get this error message
" Error, No Program start menu found." whenever i try to install something
onto my computer. I put the disk into the tray, and a window pops up showing
the drive with the disk in it. When I click on the install file, this error
message appears. Also, when I click on the start menu, on the left column,
there are no programs on the list. I right click in the blank area and click
on properties. Then to the right of the start menu button I click on
Customize. From there I click the Internet Box and tell it to put a shortcut
of Mozilla Firefox on the start menu. Then I click ok, Apply, and Ok again.
After this I open the start menu again, and what do you know, its not
there... Can anyone please tell me how to fix this and the error message
please? I really don't want to pay $59 dollars to fix what has got to be a
quick 2 minute fix. Thanks guys.

[Stephany Young]

I'll fix it for you. My minimum charge unit is for 4 hours and my rate is
$200.00 per hour. Just incase you can't do the math that will be a minimum
of $800.00.

Maybe $59.00 doesn't seem so much after all.
In real terms the person who is responsible for supporting your copy of XP
is the person who installed it in the first place. That is what OEM means.

On top of all that this group is for .NET Framework and programming related
discussions.
"JD" <JD@discussions .microsoft.comw rote in message
news:E9******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

ok, I got a windows xp home edition computer from my friend, it is a
custom
made one. The windows xp is an OEM product, so microsoft is willing to
charge
me $59 to tell me how to fix it since its not insured... I searched under
Find Error Message on the site and it wasn't there. I get this error
message
" Error, No Program start menu found." whenever i try to install something
onto my computer. I put the disk into the tray, and a window pops up
showing
the drive with the disk in it. When I click on the install file, this
error
message appears. Also, when I click on the start menu, on the left column,
there are no programs on the list. I right click in the blank area and
click
on properties. Then to the right of the start menu button I click on
Customize. From there I click the Internet Box and tell it to put a
shortcut
of Mozilla Firefox on the start menu. Then I click ok, Apply, and Ok
again.
After this I open the start menu again, and what do you know, its not
there... Can anyone please tell me how to fix this and the error message
please? I really don't want to pay $59 dollars to fix what has got to be a
quick 2 minute fix. Thanks guys.