I just finished reinstalling Windows XP to correct a registry issue and now I am scratching my head trying to figure out how to get the programs back on the screen when ONE clicks on All programs from the Start button.  I have all the programs backed up on an external drive and they are still there after the install they just don't show from the All programs options. Any fairly easy way to do this? When you re-install XP you need to re-install all your APPS for them to work properly...
Unless you did a Repair Install...
What steps EXACTLY did you take here ? ?

PS. The new install has no idea they were installed to the external drive even though it can see them.
Registry entries are needed to tell it that.
There was a way you could have accomplished this but unfortunately it's too late now...You got a "clean" installation of Windows XP (new install).  You need to reinstall the APPLICATIONS from their installation files (the source downloads or CD/DVDs).

Once installed, you may be able to move old APPLICATION "data" to the new installation if you can determine where they belong in the directory structure.  This would be done one application at a time.