Vista - no user name on vista start menu?

hello i'm new here so i hope someone will see this..
thanks for anyone who might be able to help me..
i installed vista a few weeks ago...being the economical person i am, i decided to go thru all my extraneous directories that windows installs and delete a few things i know i'd never use...mostly public junk, etc etc...i also understand that vista is smart, actually modifying what it shows you depending on the things you use most, bla bla bla..
i'm the only one using my puter and i've set the account up with admin priviledges..

just recently, i've noticed that my name is no longer displayed in the start menu just above the "documents" button & underneath my display picture, and i'm concerned about it...i'm thinking maybe it had something to do with those directories i've deleted in the public area...OR maybe vista just realised that by now i'm the only one who ever touches my puter and has chosen to assume it's always me and not show my name anymore..
i don't know but i'd like to know why this is happening, and if i choose to, how i can restore it?
i've tried in the policy manager but none of those settings seem to make a difference...

any ideas?

thanks for any help anyone could offer

The User Name appears on the Start menu.

Did you use a reg Editor/cleaner to "delete" anything?
If you did, you probably deleted something you shouldnt have, and corrupted Windows. If possible you may be able to Undo it with System restore, or you may need to re-install Vista.

hrm....no i didn't..but thanks for ur reply

How did you clean up your directories then? Windows Explorer, and just "right click/delete"?

That info is contained in User AppData file/folder, and the Registry which is by default hidden. This could only occur if you "edited" the hidden User files, edited/deleted the Users folder under computer, edited the registry, or used a third party registry/"performance" Utility, or suffered User/Windows corruption due to installed Malware apps.

Even if you did not change any thing try to do a system restore and then check if you are able to get your name on the start menu .

thru the windows explorer i deleted some folders inside the PUBLIC directory..they weren't in application data...just under desktop/public.
it could have NOTHING to do with this problem...but i don't know.

there has to be a setting somewhere or a registry entry that controls this...

i've done a restore already which didn't help.

The public folders are associated with your User Account/User folder. Just deleting the contents of a public folder (i.e., "sample Pictures") will not cause corruption of the User account.
If you on the other hand accessed and edited User directories that were not public accounts, or installed/used 3rd party programs (i.e., Advanced Systemcare), this can result in corruption of the User Account and Windows.

Somehow you have corrupted the User account, and may notice other issues related to it (such as permission issues). If restore will not work then you will have to re-install to fix it.
UAC should have prompted/warned you prior to deleting Window/User files- Unless you turned it off, and If you did, then your issue may be a result of malware.

What antivirus are you using?, and have you scanned with defefender (full scan)?

Another easier way to fix corrupted User Accounts is simply to re-create it, and then delete the corrupted account. The account will need to be the same name, so that privledges, etc, can be re-associated to it.

Backup current Users Folder, and change the name of the exisiting folder (not the backup), then create new User with the old original name. [Do this from within the hidden Admin Account]

To do this, make sure you unencrypt any encrypted files/folders, then go to "Computer", and click "Users" folder, select "show Hidden files" then copy/paste the entire folder and contents to another location.

Once you have backed up the Users folder, activate the hidden admin account, create another User/Admin account, and then disable hidden admin, and log out.

Log in to new Admin/User accout to make sure it is working like it should will full permissions, then DELETE the corrupted User account, than copy the contents/files from the backup to the Newly created User Account.
Do not simply Cut/copy/paste the entire User/(s) folder. copy the contents all the folders inside individ., (i.e., Music into the Music folder, Documents into the Documents folder), then re-enable hidden files/folders.

Ps- I am assuming this was a full Vista Install, not an upgrade Install. Upgrade Installs sometimes cause corruption issues.

One other thing- you may be lucky here:

Ultimate includes Shadow Copy, you can use this to restore a previous version of the User Folder in Question. This may resolve your issue.

Start>Computer>click the Windows Drive (usually C)>Users>right click your User account>click "Properties"> click "previous versions">select the version, and click "restore"
note- you can also do this With the Windows Folder (in the event Windows was corrupted).

hey thanks for all your kind help and replies to my note....before i do any of this, i just wanna make sure that i'm explaning this correctly..
everything else is fine, EXCEPT my name doesn't appear underneath my display picture in the upper right hand corner of my start menu....if you can imagine that..

just shows my picture, and then documents..

before i posted here, i was thinking is was a simple registry setting that would have something to do with how that portion of the start menu was drawn. (any missing parts, etc etc) i have norton antivirus, and never got any warning from it..
i've just scanned with defender and found nothing with that either.. yes it was a full ultimate install with everything...
it was showing just fine until a few days ago...now that i think about it, i DID a system restore a few days ago, because for some reason, everything just FROZE two times in the span of about 24 hours..
before i did the restore, i never saw any previous versions of windows i was given the option of restoring back to, however NOW since that time, i have 5 listed...go figure..lol..i'm wondering if that moment has anything to do with all this, but i guess it's impossible to tell now.

if the visual appearance of the start menu is affect by corruption of a user account, then maybe i should just create a new one as administrator....i just want things back working properly, with my same name, and administator priveledges..just like before. i'm trying a restore of my user name, but i can't copy the ntuser.dat file because it's in use by another program...actually there was a whole bunch of files windows couldn't copy for the same reason, most of them .dat files..i've just turned on defender and scanned...found nothing..