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How to restore Ubuntu gnome panel and menu items

As simple as:

gconftool-2 --shutdown
rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
pkill gnome-panel

If you want to restore, in example, Games menu from Applications, you have to:

cd ~/.config/menus
vim applications.menu

and then remove (in my case) Deleted node:

        <Menu>
                 <Name>Games</Name>
                 <Exclude>
                         <Filename>mahjongg.desktop</Filename>
                 </Exclude>
                 <AppDir>/home/chris/.local/share/applications</AppDir>
                <!-- remove this node </Deleted> -->
         </Menu>

Via Ubuntu forums here and here.