I used the tar command to unpack a file. I got an error so I decided to go read more before I tried anything else. But before I did, I used the rm -r command to delete the files that were created by the tar command. Woops!

I don't know if the above was the cause of my problem or not. Soon after I was adding a couple of links to my Kmenu and all of a sudden the whole menu changed. The catagories are all gone. No more multimedia, applications, documentation, etc, etc.

The part of the menu that contained the catagories has been replaced by '>What to do? >"

I also lost the function of my panel icons and when I rebooted the konsole, mail and browser icon were gone completely. The 'run command' is my only method of starting a program.

I think I looking at a system redo. Is there an easier way? And 'no' I did not make a backup yet.

I found MenuDrake.

In MenuDrake, one of the tips states, 'File>Reload system Menu' will load the virgin menus as they were at the time of installation....Finally, to activate your changes click on the save button'.

I also change my 'menu style' to 'all application' but I still have the 'What to do?' style.

This had not put my menu back to the way it was. Can someone help?

a brute force method would be:
Say you're usually logged in as Doe. log in as another user (could be root but it's safer to use another normal user; you can set one up in mandrake control center). Open a terminal window, su to root and delete the contents of the home directory of the user Doe except the files starting with .bash (the directory is /home/Doe). Logout. Login as Doe and you'll get the default mandrake settings.
Of course, *backup* whatever you need from the home directory before you do this. Also, be absolutely sure you're deleting the contents of the right directory.

This seems pretty complicated and I don't hold out much hope. However, as a last resort I will try it.

I have copied my complete /home directory over to Windows for safe keeping. /home also contains my download for my NVidia driver and Flightgear. Also saved my /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file. Is there anything else that has changed since installation that I need to save?

As for your suggestion...Do you mean to delete EVERY file in /home that does not have a literal .bash at the beginning of it? Please explain what .bash files are for as opposed to everything else.

Yes, I meant to delete everything except for the .bash* files. These are basic configuration files that are used when you log in. What you could do is to copy them somewhere for safe keeping, then delete everything in the folder with

rm -Rf *

and then copy back the saved .bash* files. The procedure is not complicated. It's just that you have to make sure you keep everything you need for backup which you alrady did. The /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 won't be touched by this, though (but it's always good to back it up).

A less radical method would be to delete everything (files and folders) in your *home directory* starting with
.kde
and
.menu (if there is anything)
and then log out and in again. I think this'll fix it too.

Try this:

Alt-F2 (to start command)
Konsole
export KDEDIRS=/path/to/KDE (probably /opt/kde)
kbuildsycoca

That should rebuild KDE menus

guygriffiths,
Your method did not work, but thanks for the try. It looked like a lot simpler method.

quatsch,
I did it your way. I deleted all except .bash files. Wish I had known that there are only around a dozen or less of those. I could have found an easier way of deleting what I think was around 3000 files.

Anyway, The first time wizard came up and I'm resetting up. After the wizard I still have no mail cause I did the POP setting wrong. I founf where to set SMTP but not POP. I need to change it from pop.intouch.com to pop.intouchmi.com. Where do I do that? Seems to me theres a way to run the 'first time wizard' again.

Also, in order to retrieve all my mail settings, folders, addresses and messages, what file or directories do I need to restore from before...without restoring my menu glitches?

Thanks guys...

You had a dozen or so files starting with .bash? I should've told you that the important ones are
.bashrc and
.bash_profile

Sorry about that. Anyhow, if you were using kmail, your mails were in the folder Mail in your home directory. Your addresses were probably in
{home-directory}/.kde/apps/kabc
just copy everything from the backup of this folder into the new one. If you're using kmail you can set up the email servers in the settings->configure kmail tab.

Thanks for all.

I'm using Mozilla. I think I fought it all in /home/<user>/Mozilla/<user>/davlsw1b.slt.
I just have to sort out what all is in there. But thats the place.

I'm practicing backups right now so next time I'll be ready.