This is strange

[Craig234]

Edit: it gets worse. Every program in my start menu now shows a menu listing but nothing in it when I click - so I can't run any program that's not a desktop icon.

This is now effectively a 'system destroyed' issue. Files, however, are still in place on the disks.

Original post:

Windows 10.

I've been having a few strange things recently, where websites think I'm on a different device, and then this morning Comcast said there had been an unauthorized access and changed my password.

I ran malwarebytes, no problem.

Things have sometimes been getting quite slow or hanging the computer.

I did a power cycle, and now my start menu is messed up.

The start button wouldn't even show anything so I rebooted. Then it showed a lot of missing programs.

Internet explorer used to be on the top menu - no more. Edge used to be there - no more. Programs I had put on the 'frequently used' list - gone.

So I did a search on 'Internet explorer' and it showed it - but normally you click that and it starts - it didn't. Same thing with Edge.

I'm only able to log on here to post this because i started chrome from a desktop icon.

I've also sometimes had the hard drive running solid for no apparent reason sometimes. It's not now, but last night it was and task manager pointed at the MS antivirus process using 15%-55% of CPU.

Any ideas?

 

[Craig234]

Trying something I found on google, 'sfc /scannow'.

OK, that didn't work (found corrupt files, couldn't fix some).

Then I tried dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth.

Didn't work, said 'cannot find source files'. Now I'm considering trying:

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

 

[Craig234]

OK, ran that got an error;

Add-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073D02, The package could not be installed because resources it
modifies are currently in use.
error 0x80004004: Unable to install because the following apps need to be closed
Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy!CortanaUI.
NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId] 65fa0244-4e6b-0003-d80a-fa656b4ed201 in the Event Log or use
the command line Get-AppxLog -ActivityID 65fa0244-4e6b-0003-d80a-fa656b4ed201
At line:1 char:38
+ ... | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.I ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (C:\Windows\Syst...ppXManifest.xml:String) [Add-AppxPackage], Exception
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : DeploymentError,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.AddAppxPackageCommand

I'll restart and see if it helped.

Update: no change.

 

[Batmeat]

Sounds like your hard drive is dying.

 

[Craig234]

Could be. I tried making a new user. After about 15 minutes of screens saying it was progressing, it went to a black screen. When I log on the new user, it gets a black screen.

 

[Craig234]

These problems started not long after I deleted the program 'ccloud' on my system yesterday. I wasn't sure what it was but it was getting a popup every restart and an error.

 

[Craig234]

Well another development. I shut down the browser and ran the 'apppackage' again and this time it got no errors, but no fix or change.

But then I logged on to the second user I created again, and this time after a delay it booted.

And the new user DOES sort of work - the start menu DOES show programs to run, not only the names with no programs in them.

But the entry for Steam has only a website link for Steam support (and even that doesn't work when clicked) - no Steam program to run. And steam doesn't autostart anymore.

 

[denis280]

try running hdd sentinel.http://download.cnet.com/Hard-Disk-Sentinel/3000-2086_4-10466403.html

 

[VirtualLarry]

HDD failure, or 'ransomware'.

 

[UsandThem]

HDD failure, or 'ransomware'.

Agreed. It kind of sounds like what I was dealing with when my son mistyped a web address, and the site he landed on installed ransomware through the Edge browser when Windows 10 first launched.

Luckily I taught him the importance of backing up his important data. I ended up having to nuke his hard drive.

You can try using a rescue disk like Kaspersky to see if it a virus/malware.

https://support.kaspersky.com/4162

Do you normally just use the built-in Windows Defender for protection?

 

[Craig234]

try running hdd sentinel.http://download.cnet.com/Hard-Disk-Sentinel/3000-2086_4-10466403.html

OK, I ran it.

It seemed a touch sleazy - it took 3 or 4 times clicking 'download now' to download it, and even though I watch for it it tried to install two additional programs I didn't ask for making it look I was
installing that one, and I did install one of them (and then removed it).

Not sure what I was looking for - it reported bad news, my drive has 2448 days running, estimated 90 days to run, 6 bad sectors found.

 

[Craig234]

HDD failure, or 'ransomware'.

I don't think this one is ransomware. I've had that, and it shows a phone number and locks the browser. Malwarebytes found no malware, though it didn't find the other.

 

[Craig234]

Agreed. It kind of sounds like what I was dealing with when my son mistyped a web address, and the site he landed on installed ransomware through the Edge browser when Windows 10 first launched.

Luckily I taught him the importance of backing up his important data. I ended up having to nuke his hard drive.

You can try using a rescue disk like Kaspersky to see if it a virus/malware.

https://support.kaspersky.com/4162

Do you normally just use the built-in Windows Defender for protection?

It says "It should be used when it is impossible to boot the operating system.", so I'm not comfortable running that.

I forget what all I have running, but it does include windows defender.

Something called "Reason Core Security" has three processes running.

"Antimalware Service Executable" is taking up almost 50% CPU and thrashing the drive indefinitely at 20mb/sec.

There are some other things running with security sounding names but not obviously third party.

 

[daveybrat]

OK, I ran it.

It seemed a touch sleazy - it took 3 or 4 times clicking 'download now' to download it, and even though I watch for it it tried to install two additional programs I didn't ask for making it look I was
installing that one, and I did install one of them (and then removed it).

Not sure what I was looking for - it reported bad news, my drive has 2448 days running, estimated 90 days to run, 6 bad sectors found.

So your hard drive is dying, the program just confirmed what others already thought. Backup any important data now and shop for a new one.

 

[Craig234]

I think that's right.

Another odd thing, I got a note from humble bundle saying someone with an IP near Moscow had tried to access my account; this morning Comcast changed my password saying there had been
unauthorized attempts to access it. So it sounded like a hack but I ran another malware program, Avast, and it found nothing either.

But progress. I think the hard drive program helped, because there was a popup saying 'reboot to fix hard drive' so I did.

And after that, the programs show up again in the start menu and can be run - just the ones that were flagged like 'most common' are still missing, but the problem is largely fixed. I'm not sure exactly what did it as I had run a few things but I'm guessing the hard drive program. Much improved now. Now, if I were just more comfortable replacing the hard drive...

 

[daveybrat]

I think that's right.

Another odd thing, I got a note from humble bundle saying someone with an IP near Moscow had tried to access my account; this morning Comcast changed my password saying there had been
unauthorized attempts to access it. So it sounded like a hack but I ran another malware program, Avast, and it found nothing either.

But progress. I think the hard drive program helped, because there was a popup saying 'reboot to fix hard drive' so I did.

And after that, the programs show up again in the start menu and can be run - just the ones that were flagged like 'most common' are still missing, but the problem is largely fixed. I'm not sure exactly what did it as I had run a few things but I'm guessing the hard drive program. Much improved now. Now, if I were just more comfortable replacing the hard drive...

That program just reallocated the bad sectors. It's merely a band-aid for now. You're going to need to replace the hard drive asap or it'll just get worse.

 

[Craig234]

Yup. Not surprising since it's been running most of 8 years 24/7.

The change also put 'new' on all the programs on the computer in the start menu...

 

[Craig234]

If there had been any question - now Windows is regularly popping up a window saying 'hard drive going bad, back up your data'.

So, off to find a local computer person to hire for transferring data and installing a new hard drive tomorrow I think.