I just found out today that Windows 7 has some sort of soft cap of 70 items on the Windows Start Menu.   I don’t exactly understand how it works yet but when certain installers install applications in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs the newly installed shortcuts will only instantly show up if you had less than 70 items in that folder prior to installing the new app.  However if you restart explorer these new shortcuts will display.