diff --git a/openvpn_config.c b/openvpn_config.c
index e1a4728..d6e52c1 100644
--- a/openvpn_config.c
+++ b/openvpn_config.c
@@ -141,15 +141,17 @@ AddConfigFileToList(int config, const TCHAR *filename, const TCHAR *config_dir)
 
 /*
  * Create a new group with the given name as a child of the
- * specified parent group and return pointer to the new group.
+ * specified parent group id and returns the id of the new group.
  * If FLAG_ADD_CONFIG_GROUPS is not enabled, returns the
  * parent itself.
  */
-static config_group_t *
-NewConfigGroup(const wchar_t *name, config_group_t *parent, int flags)
+static int
+NewConfigGroup(const wchar_t *name, int parent, int flags)
 {
     if (!(flags & FLAG_ADD_CONFIG_GROUPS))
+    {
         return parent;
+    }
 
     if (!o.groups || o.num_groups == o.max_groups)
     {
@@ -171,7 +173,7 @@ NewConfigGroup(const wchar_t *name, config_group_t *parent, int flags)
     cg->parent = parent;
     cg->active = false; /* activated later if not empty */
 
-    return cg;
+    return cg->id;
 }
 
 /*
@@ -187,19 +189,24 @@ ActivateConfigGroups(void)
     /* the root group is always active */
     o.groups[0].active = true;
 
+    /* children is a counter re-used for activation, menu indexing etc. -- reset before use */
+    for (int i = 0; i < o.num_groups; i++)
+        o.groups[i].children = 0;
+
     /* count children of each group -- this includes groups
      * and configs which have it as parent
      */
     for (int i = 0; i < o.num_configs; i++)
     {
-        o.conn[i].group->children++;
+        CONFIG_GROUP(&o.conn[i])->children++;
     }
 
     for (int i = 1; i < o.num_groups; i++)
     {
         config_group_t *this = &o.groups[i];
-        if (this->parent) /* should be true as i = 0 is omitted */
-            this->parent->children++;
+        config_group_t *parent = PARENT_GROUP(this);
+        if (parent) /* should be true as i = 0 is omitted */
+            parent->children++;
 
         /* unless activated below the group stays inactive */
         this->active = false;
@@ -215,10 +222,10 @@ ActivateConfigGroups(void)
      */
     for (int i = 0; i < o.num_configs; i++)
     {
-        config_group_t *cg = o.conn[i].group;
+        config_group_t *cg = CONFIG_GROUP(&o.conn[i]);
 
         /* if not root and has only this config as child -- squash it */
-        if (cg->parent && cg->children == 1
+        if (PARENT_GROUP(cg) && cg->children == 1
             && !wcscmp(cg->name, o.conn[i].config_name))
         {
             cg->children--;
@@ -229,12 +236,12 @@ ActivateConfigGroups(void)
     /* activate all groups that connect a config to the root */
     for (int i = 0; i < o.num_configs; i++)
     {
-        config_group_t *cg = o.conn[i].group;
+        config_group_t *cg = CONFIG_GROUP(&o.conn[i]);
 
         while (cg)
         {
             cg->active = true;
-            cg = cg->parent;
+            cg = PARENT_GROUP(cg);
         }
     }
 }
@@ -245,12 +252,12 @@ ActivateConfigGroups(void)
  *        flags      -- enable warnings, use directory based
  *                      grouping of configs etc.
  * Currently configs in a directory are grouped together and group is
- * a pointer to the current parent group in the global group array |o.groups|
+ * the id of the current group in the global group array |o.groups|
  * This may be recursively called until depth becomes 1 and each time
  * the group is changed to that of the directory being recursed into.
  */
 static void
-BuildFileList0(const TCHAR *config_dir, int recurse_depth, config_group_t *group, int flags)
+BuildFileList0(const TCHAR *config_dir, int recurse_depth, int group, int flags)
 {
     WIN32_FIND_DATA find_obj;
     HANDLE find_handle;
@@ -316,7 +323,7 @@ BuildFileList0(const TCHAR *config_dir, int recurse_depth, config_group_t *group
             {
                 /* recurse into subdirectory */
                 _sntprintf_0(subdir_name, _T("%s\\%s"), config_dir, find_obj.cFileName);
-                config_group_t *sub_group = NewConfigGroup(find_obj.cFileName, group, flags);
+                int sub_group = NewConfigGroup(find_obj.cFileName, group, flags);
 
                 BuildFileList0(subdir_name, recurse_depth - 1, sub_group, flags);
             }
@@ -332,7 +339,7 @@ BuildFileList()
     static bool issue_warnings = true;
     int recurse_depth = 4; /* read config_dir and 3 levels of sub-directories */
     int flags = 0;
-    config_group_t *root = NULL;
+    int root = 0;
 
     if (o.silent_connection)
         issue_warnings = false;
@@ -342,15 +349,15 @@ BuildFileList()
      * to make a new list. Else we keep all current configs and
      * rescan to add any new one's found
      */
-    if (CountConnState(disconnected) == o.num_configs)
+    if (!o.num_groups || CountConnState(disconnected) == o.num_configs)
     {
         o.num_configs = 0;
         o.num_groups = 0;
         flags |= FLAG_ADD_CONFIG_GROUPS;
-        root = NewConfigGroup(L"User Profiles", NULL, flags);
+        root = NewConfigGroup(L"ROOT", -1, flags); /* -1 indicates no parent */
     }
     else
-        root = &o.groups[0];
+        root = 0;
 
     if (issue_warnings)
     {
@@ -375,7 +382,11 @@ BuildFileList()
         o.num_configs = MAX_CONFIGS; /* menus don't work with more -- ignore the rest */
     }
 
-    ActivateConfigGroups();
+    /* if adding groups, activate non-empty ones */
+    if (flags &FLAG_ADD_CONFIG_GROUPS)
+    {
+        ActivateConfigGroups();
+    }
 
     issue_warnings = false;
 }
diff --git a/options.h b/options.h
index 3970334..c523f6f 100644
--- a/options.h
+++ b/options.h
@@ -103,15 +103,19 @@ typedef struct {
  * which is enough for our purposes.
  */
 typedef struct config_group {
-    int id;                      /* A unique id for the group */
+    int id;                      /* A unique id for the group >= 0*/
     wchar_t name[40];            /* Name of the group -- possibly truncated */
-    struct config_group *parent; /* Pointer to parent group */
+    int parent;                  /* Id of parent group. -1 implies no parent */
     BOOL active;                 /* Displayed in the menu if true -- used to prune empty groups */
     int children;                /* Number of children groups and configs */
     int pos;                     /* Index within the parent group -- used for rendering */
     HMENU menu;                  /* Handle to menu entry for this group */
 } config_group_t;
 
+/* short hand for pointer to the group a config belongs to */
+#define CONFIG_GROUP(c) (&o.groups[(c)->group])
+#define PARENT_GROUP(cg) ((cg)->parent < 0 ? NULL : &o.groups[(cg)->parent])
+
 /* Connections parameters */
 struct connection {
     TCHAR config_file[MAX_PATH];    /* Name of the config file */
@@ -126,7 +130,7 @@ struct connection {
     int failed_auth_attempts;       /* # of failed user-auth attempts */
     time_t connected_since;         /* Time when the connection was established */
     proxy_t proxy_type;             /* Set during querying proxy credentials */
-    config_group_t *group;          /* Pointer to the group this config belongs to */
+    int group;                      /* ID of the group this config belongs to */
     int pos;                        /* Index of the config within its group */
 
     struct {
diff --git a/tray.c b/tray.c
index 9f80472..fa6e8cb 100644
--- a/tray.c
+++ b/tray.c
@@ -48,26 +48,24 @@ HMENU hMenuService;
 NOTIFYICONDATA ni;
 extern options_t o;
 
-#define USE_NESTED_CONFIG_MENU ((o.config_menu_view == CONFIG_VIEW_AUTO && o.num_configs > 50)   \
+#define USE_NESTED_CONFIG_MENU ((o.config_menu_view == CONFIG_VIEW_AUTO && o.num_configs > 25)   \
                                  || (o.config_menu_view == CONFIG_VIEW_NESTED))
 
 /* Create popup menus */
 void
 CreatePopupMenus()
 {
-    int i;
-
     /* We use groups[0].menu as the root menu, so,
      * even if num_configs = 0, we want num_groups > 0.
      * This is guaranteed as the root node is always defined.
      */
     assert(o.num_groups > 0);
 
-    for (i = 0; i < o.num_configs; i++)
+    for (int i = 0; i < o.num_configs; i++)
     {
         hMenuConn[i] = CreatePopupMenu();
     }
-    for (i = 0; i < o.num_groups; i++)
+    for (int i = 0; i < o.num_groups; i++)
     {
         if (!o.groups[i].active)
             continue;
@@ -113,15 +111,14 @@ CreatePopupMenus()
         SetMenuStatusById(0,  o.conn[0].state);
     }
     else {
-        int i;
         /* construct the submenu tree first */
         if (USE_NESTED_CONFIG_MENU)
         {
             /* i = 0 is the root menu and has no parent */
-            for (i = 1; i < o.num_groups; i++)
+            for (int i = 1; i < o.num_groups; i++)
             {
                 config_group_t *this = &o.groups[i];
-                config_group_t *parent = this->parent;
+                config_group_t *parent = PARENT_GROUP(this);
 
                 if (!this->active || !parent)
                     continue;
@@ -134,16 +131,16 @@ CreatePopupMenus()
         }
 
         /* add config file (connection) entries */
-        for (i = 0; i < o.num_configs; i++)
+        for (int i = 0; i < o.num_configs; i++)
         {
             connection_t *c = &o.conn[i];
             config_group_t *parent = &o.groups[0]; /* by default config is added to the root */
 
             if (USE_NESTED_CONFIG_MENU)
             {
-                if (c->group) /* should be always true, but in case... */
-                     parent = c->group;
+                parent = CONFIG_GROUP(c);
             }
+            assert(parent);
 
             /* Add config to the current sub menu */
             AppendMenu(parent->menu, MF_POPUP, (UINT_PTR) hMenuConn[i], c->config_name);
@@ -169,7 +166,7 @@ CreatePopupMenus()
 
 
         /* Create popup menus for every connection */
-        for (i=0; i < o.num_configs; i++) {
+        for (int i = 0; i < o.num_configs; i++) {
             if (o.service_only == 0) {
                 AppendMenu(hMenuConn[i], MF_STRING, IDM_CONNECTMENU + i, LoadLocalizedString(IDS_MENU_CONNECT));
                 AppendMenu(hMenuConn[i], MF_STRING, IDM_DISCONNECTMENU + i, LoadLocalizedString(IDS_MENU_DISCONNECT));
@@ -454,8 +451,8 @@ SetMenuStatusById(int i, conn_state_t state)
         config_group_t *parent = &o.groups[0];
         int pos = c->pos;
 
-        if (USE_NESTED_CONFIG_MENU && c->group)
-            parent = c->group;
+        if (USE_NESTED_CONFIG_MENU && CONFIG_GROUP(c))
+            parent = CONFIG_GROUP(c);
 
         CheckMenuItem(parent->menu, pos, MF_BYPOSITION | (checked ? MF_CHECKED : MF_UNCHECKED));
 
@@ -464,10 +461,10 @@ SetMenuStatusById(int i, conn_state_t state)
 
         if (checked) /* also check all parent groups */
         {
-            while (parent->parent)
+            while (PARENT_GROUP(parent))
             {
                 pos = parent->pos;
-                parent = parent->parent;
+                parent = PARENT_GROUP(parent);
                 CheckMenuItem(parent->menu, pos, MF_BYPOSITION | MF_CHECKED);
             }
         }