I'm running from Linux Mint live boot. It's defaulting to a start
menu that makes XP look well organized. Applications, places, and
system all open at the same time. I don't see an obvious way to
repair it back to separate applications, places, and system menus.
I'm sure there's an obvious fix. I just don't see it. What do I need
to do? Does the junk on the desk top (computer and mint's home icons)
disappear after a proper install? Will just deleting them lose any
functionality?

Returning to Mandriva until I can try a live boot with these items
repaired.