Duplicate shortcuts and icons

[Paul.A.Bowden]

Almost all programs in Start|All programs are listed twice and I have
two identical icons for almost every item in Control Panel.
I have been having numerous problems with Kaspersky Security Suite and
have been guided by their Technical Support through a whole load of
steps (too numerous to remember or explain clearly) in an attempt to
address these, so I suppose that I have caused this along the way
without being aware of it.
Any suggestions about how to get rid of them would be VERY welcome (in
Start|Programs, it looks as though I can just delete each shortcut, but

that option isn't available for the Control Panel icons, as far as I
can see.) I did a search for "*.cpl" files, suggested by a colleague,

and this threw up all the duplicates, but did not (as far as I could
see) give a way of deleting them.
As is probably very obvious, I'm not very computer-literate, so I'll be

really grateful for any help and, of course, will give any further info

needed as best I can.
Paul Bowden UK

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Almost all programs in Start|All programs are listed twice and I have
two identical icons for almost every item in Control Panel.
I have been having numerous problems with Kaspersky Security Suite and
have been guided by their Technical Support through a whole load of
steps (too numerous to remember or explain clearly) in an attempt to
address these, so I suppose that I have caused this along the way
without being aware of it.
Any suggestions about how to get rid of them would be VERY welcome (in
Start|Programs, it looks as though I can just delete each shortcut, but

that option isn't available for the Control Panel icons, as far as I
can see.) I did a search for "*.cpl" files, suggested by a colleague,

and this threw up all the duplicates, but did not (as far as I could
see) give a way of deleting them.
As is probably very obvious, I'm not very computer-literate, so I'll be

really grateful for any help and, of course, will give any further info

needed as best I can.
Paul Bowden UK

Please state where exactly your duplicate .cpl files reside.

 

[Paul.A.Bowden]

Search brings up 116
About half are represented by their Control Panel icon and are
described simply as (name=) 'Control Panel.
The others are in C:\windows\system 32 and are described as 'Control
Panel Extensions
Thanks for taking the time to consider this and post your help - it's
much appreciated.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Search brings up 116
About half are represented by their Control Panel icon and are
described simply as (name=) 'Control Panel.
The others are in C:\windows\system 32 and are described as 'Control
Panel Extensions
Thanks for taking the time to consider this and post your help - it's
much appreciated.

The duplications are most likely caused by inappropriate
entries in the registry. The easiest way to get rid of them
would be to use System Restore to a point prior to when
the problem first occurred. You won't lose any data when
doing this.

 

[Paul.A.Bowden]

Ah, but the problem is that, in the course of (successfully,
eventually) sorting out the problems I had with Kaspersky, I was
instructed to disable System Restore, during which it warned me that
previous restore points would be wiped.
Forgive a really stupid question, but is there no program which will
locate and allow the deletion of duplicate items? (Sorry: I know
nothing about computers and) I'm again grateful for your help.
Best wishes

 

[David Candy]

I can see how start can duplicate (I think I first diagnosed the cause), but it would have no effect on CP.