win startmenu
You can find it here :
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
which, in a standard installation, refer to
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
To me that includes all folders and files in the start screen.
But maybe you installed programs, then uninstalled them- but the folders remained there hence the extra folders or files.
In my case all that was in that folder existed in the Start menu.
Since you're familiar with PowerShell, there are several possible solutions ...
And yes, I'm in Win 10:
PS > [Environment]::OSVersion.Version
Major Minor Build Revision
10 0 10586 0
Ask Windows (.NET)
Ask Windows (.NET to be specific) where the location is. This will resolve the correct location in case you, like me, moved your AppData\Roaming folder into a DropBox-like location.
PS > [Environment]::GetFolderPath('StartMenu')
C:\Users\VertigoRay\DropBox\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
PS > [Environment]::GetFolderPath('CommonStartMenu')
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
More about GetFolderPath.
Delete Corrupted AppLocker Files
PowerShell (As Admin):
PS > Get-ChildItem "${env:SystemRoot}\System32\AppLocker\Plugin." | %{ Move-Item $_ "${_}.bak" }
Restart Windows after you run the command.
DISM Restore Health
PowerShell (As Admin):
& dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart Windows after you run the command.
Re-register App Packages
PowerShell (As Admin):
PS > Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | %{ Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" }
You might get some errors (red text). Typically this is saying the .xml can't be found; just ignore it.
Re-index
As previously linked in this thread, simply re-indexing your drive should cause the Start Menu DB to refresh. I would turn off indexing, then turn it all back on.
Turning off indexing deleted the indexing files in previous versions of Windows; I haven't tested this in Windows 10. If needed, you can manually delete the indexing files once indexing is turned off; might need to reboot after turning indexing off to release all open handles. The default location for the indexing files is: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search