Magento Products Not Showing on Front End

We recently helped a client whose mySQL server had crashed, after fixing the problem and running a full Magento re-index products were not showing on the front of the store.
The product catalog was showing correctly in admin. After going through the obvious checklist

• Are all products in the correct categories
• Are all products in stock
• Are all associated products in stock
• Are all products enabled
• Are all products Visible

The answer to all these questions was yes. So we deleted all files in var/cache/ directory and the index lock files in var/locks/ then ran a full re-index again. Still no products were showing on the front of the store!
As a last resort before turning to restoring a backup we disabled all products from Admin and re enabled all products. Presto! The problem was resolved.
So if you get in a situation that your Magento products are not visible on the front end of your store the solution might be to disable them, then re enable them all.

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