Windows 10 major problems

[sublimeaces1968]

I am having so many problems with windows 10 i don't know how to fix it.

My right click the start menu does not bring up the quick access menu, sometimes when i type in the search box and click something, It will not open the application I am trying to open.

I get a lot of what can only be described as lag when opening applications or closing them. Sometimes my entire machine will just freeze up for a very long time and after multiple presses of cnt+alt+delete it will give me back my machine and say "could not open the cnt+alt+del screen". After a restart it usually works fine.

I don't have the latest os build and it tells me I am up to date even in the update assistant. I currently have os build 16299.248 which is not the latest. The latest is 16299.251

What should i do here? Should i refresh pc? Do you think i have a virus (language) with my system files? I have a decent paid for anti virus and scan regularly. I also run reg fix scans with ccleaner often. I don't do stupid sites and have a pi hole on my network.

Should i go to insider program and see if it fixes everything?

Thanks for help.

Moderator: This is a family friendly forum, please keep all swearing out of your posts, thank you!

 

[drtweak]

First off language man. No need for cussing here.

Second download the Media Creation Tool for windows 10 and run it. It will act as if it is going to install windows which it will be updating it. Select to save everything and let it go and see how that works out.

 

[wpgwpg]

It sounds like you have corrupt Windows files, so I'd open an administrator command prompt & issue these commands:
. SFC /scannow
. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
I'd also do a full scan for viruses.
Then, if you want the latest Windows update, start IE, go to http://catalog.update.microsoft.com and download KB4090913, that's the cumulative update that came out 3/6/18.

 

[sublimeaces1968]

First off language man. No need for cussing here.

Second download the Media Creation Tool for windows 10 and run it. It will act as if it is going to install windows which it will be updating it. Select to save everything and let it go and see how that works out.

sorry for language

should I still do this. I pulled the latest update and manually installed it. It went fine, but i still don't have the right click the start button and getting a little system lag when opening up windows apps like "about this system" and the settings menu.

 

[scout_03]

use the iso support device to reinstall the os files it will also do a repair and update the os .

 

[Lumia925]

In my personal experience with all previous versions of Windows, registry-fixing programs often cause more problems than they fix. I have stopped using them since XP SP2, and have stopped running into bizarre issues like this ever since- coincidence perhaps, but you should try to stop using these registry optimizing programs for a few months after you repair the problems following the solutions provided above, and check the outcome- there's a possibility that this will prevent recurrence of these strange and unpredictable behavior in future.

I use registry repairing tools as a "last resort"- when I have exhausted all other options and I'll have to re-install anyway..

 

[sublimeaces1968]

It sounds like you have corrupt Windows files, so I'd open an administrator command prompt & issue these commands:
. SFC /scannow
. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
I'd also do a full scan for viruses.
Then, if you want the latest Windows update, start IE, go to http://catalog.update.microsoft.com and download KB4090913, that's the cumulative update that came out 3/6/18.

I ran sfc /scannow and got

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

after running DISM i got

the operation completed successfully.

No right click still on windows button.

I got the update from the catalog and it went through no problem.

 

[sublimeaces1968]

In my personal experience with all previous versions of Windows, registry-fixing programs often cause more problems than they fix. I have stopped using them since XP SP2, and have stopped running into bizarre issues like this ever since- coincidence perhaps, but you should try to stop using these registry optimizing programs for a few months after you repair the problems following the solutions provided above, and check the outcome- there's a possibility that this will prevent recurrence of these strange and unpredictable behavior in future.

I use registry repairing tools as a "last resort"- when I have exhausted all other options and I'll have to re-install anyway..

I will keep this in mind for the future, thanks.

 

[sublimeaces1968]

use the iso support device to reinstall the os files it will also do a repair and update the os .

Is this my only option you think?

 

[Lumia925]

RESTART in SAFE MODE and check if the issue persists

CREATE a new USER ACCOUNT and check if the issue is present in this account too

 

[sublimeaces1968]

RESTART in SAFE MODE and check if the issue persists

CREATE a new USER ACCOUNT and check if the issue is present in this account too

Restarted in safe mode and problem did persist.

Created a new user and everything works perfectly in that user account.

What does this mean?

 

[Lumia925]

RESTART in SAFE MODE and check if the issue persists

CREATE a new USER ACCOUNT and check if the issue is present in this account too

Restarted in safe mode and problem did persist.

Created a new user and everything works perfectly in that user account.

What does this mean?

This means the user-profile is corrupted.
There are some ways to fix this problem, but a successful repair is NOT guaranteed. It'll take a real long time to troubleshoot what exactly is causing the issue- with no guarantee of success.


[WARNING: MAKE SURE THE NEW ACCOUNT HAS ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS BEFORE YOU PROCEED]


Your best option now is to log-in to the <new user>, go to "<C:\Users\<old user>" [Windows might say you don't have access to this folder- if it does, it will give you an option to "Take access permanently", click on that].


Next, COPY the files you want to keep (DON'T copy everything, as corrupted data will be copied over to the new account if you do- copy only the files you need to keep- like pictures, videos, documents, saved games, etc), and PASTE them to "<C:\Users\<New User>\<Relevant Directory>" [Example, if you're copying from C:\Users\Old User\Documents, Paste to C:\Users\New User\Documents]

Restart the computer and log in to the new user account. Use it for a while and make sure everything works.

When you're satisfied with the new user account, delete the <old user> account.

Create a restore point after deleting the old account, this will ensure you can revert back to a working state in case something goes wrong with the new user account after a few days- which will in turn save you the trouble of having to copy/paste data and creating/deleting accounts in the unlikely event that the problem recurs. Give the restore point a proper name [like perhaps "Just after repairing Windows"] so it's easy to identify. And unless absolutely necessary, I'd once again advice against using 3rd party (non-Microsoft) automatic registry-repair software. I'd also STRONGLY advice to create a "Standard" user account for everyday use. Use the Admin account only when needed.

 

[sublimeaces1968]

RESTART in SAFE MODE and check if the issue persists

CREATE a new USER ACCOUNT and check if the issue is present in this account too

Restarted in safe mode and problem did persist.

Created a new user and everything works perfectly in that user account.

What does this mean?

This means the user-profile is corrupted.
There are some ways to fix this problem, but a successful repair is NOT guaranteed. It'll take a real long time to troubleshoot what exactly is causing the issue- with no guarantee of success.


[WARNING: MAKE SURE THE NEW ACCOUNT HAS ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS BEFORE YOU PROCEED]


Your best option now is to log-in to the <new user>, go to "<C:\Users\<old user>" [Windows might say you don't have access to this folder- if it does, it will give you an option to "Take access permanently", click on that].


Next, COPY the files you want to keep (DON'T copy everything, as corrupted data will be copied over to the new account if you do- copy only the files you need to keep- like pictures, videos, documents, saved games, etc), and PASTE them to "<C:\Users\<New User>\<Relevant Directory>" [Example, if you're copying from C:\Users\Old User\Documents, Paste to C:\Users\New User\Documents]

Restart the computer and log in to the new user account. Use it for a while and make sure everything works.

When you're satisfied with the new user account, delete the <old user> account.

Create a restore point after deleting the old account, this will ensure you can revert back to a working state in case something goes wrong with the new user account after a few days- which will in turn save you the trouble of having to copy/paste data and creating/deleting accounts in the unlikely event that the problem recurs. Give the restore point a proper name [like perhaps "Just after repairing Windows"] so it's easy to identify. And unless absolutely necessary, I'd once again advice against using 3rd party (non-Microsoft) automatic registry-repair software. I'd also STRONGLY advice to create a "Standard" user account for everyday use. Use the Admin account only when needed.

Thanks for the info. Is their any extra harm in just leaving it? Is their a security risk? Does it increase chances of other systems becoming corrupt to the point i have to reformat? I noticed that programs like nvidia shadow play are not working for me, but again i can live with that.

 

[Lumia925]

You're welcome. There's no harm in keeping the old user alive, it'll just be annoying to see an extra username pop-up in the log-in screen, plus it'll consume space uselessly on your C: partition.

About the NVidia issue, feel free to start a new thread (or search for an older one) in the GPU section.

Thank you for visiting Tom's Hardware.

 

[sublimeaces1968]

You're welcome. There's no harm in keeping the old user alive, it'll just be annoying to see an extra username pop-up in the log-in screen, plus it'll consume space uselessly on your C: partition.

About the NVidia issue, feel free to start a new thread (or search for an older one) in the GPU section.

Thank you for visiting Tom's Hardware.

oh sorry, i guess i wasn't clear. I meant is their harm in continuing to USE the old user. Not saying i'm going to. I'll make a new user when i have time. Just curious.

 

[Lumia925]

At this point, we can't make an intelligent comment on what exactly is triggering the misbehavior yet - we'd need to troubleshoot further, and we might end up causing more problems in the process. If that happens, it'd be difficult to fix such problems without one of us taking remote control of your computer- and I can't ask you to allow remote access to me (or someone else in Tom's). Allowing remote control to an unknown volunteer is a privacy risk.

All we know is that the problem is NOT caused by the operating system itself (SFC and DISM finds no issues, and a temporary user account works better). Something you installed (or a registry-fixing program) is (almost certainly) causing the problems- important parameters have been altered/ conflicts created by one of the above two.

It could be a malware that has installed itself in the user profile (not globally as that'd cause the issue to present itself in ALL accounts), and some malware can go unnoticed by the installed AV. You could try a scan by a portable scanner, the chances of multiple AV software failing to detect a threat is low.

If I were to guess, I'd say it's not a malware. It's a corruption created by an installed program or a registry scanner.

I'm not saying you did, but downloading torrents with cracks can cause such issues. The cracked programs are not extensively tested on all hardware/software configurations- it might work on some computers, at the same time cause serious problems in others.

 

[sublimeaces1968]

At this point, we can't make an intelligent comment on what exactly is triggering the misbehavior yet - we'd need to troubleshoot further, and we might end up causing more problems in the process. If that happens, it'd be difficult to fix such problems without one of us taking remote control of your computer- and I can't ask you to allow remote access to me (or someone else in Tom's). Allowing remote control to an unknown volunteer is a privacy risk.

All we know is that the problem is NOT caused by the operating system itself (SFC and DISM finds no issues, and a temporary user account works better). Something you installed (or a registry-fixing program) is (almost certainly) causing the problems- important parameters have been altered/ conflicts created by one of the above two.

It could be a malware that has installed itself in the user profile (not globally as that'd cause the issue to present itself in ALL accounts), and some malware can go unnoticed by the installed AV. You could try a scan by a portable scanner, the chances of multiple AV software failing to detect a threat is low.

If I were to guess, I'd say it's not a malware. It's a corruption created by an installed program or a registry scanner.

I'm not saying you did, but downloading torrents with cracks can cause such issues. The cracked programs are not extensively tested on all hardware/software configurations- it might work on some computers, at the same time cause serious problems in others.

the cause is going to be hard to find seeing as i have so much installed that could potentially mess with it. Not big on cracking, but had multiple vpns, arduino's connected, visual studio, blender, vive, benchmarking programs, yeah. It would be a mess. My money is on the VIVE messing with it. Or logitech gaming software. ALWAYS have problems with logitech gaming software drivers.

thank you. I will run some offline scanners and see if it's malware. But my money is on one of the above.