After a bit of use, my apps will not close, and new ones will not open (including task manager). Yet my cursor still moves around the screens.

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jpz

PCHF Member
Jun 15, 2022
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Good Morning,

As the title says, I am currently having an issue with my PC where after a few hours (1-6) of my PC running, all Apps I have up will freeze and will not close (With ALT+F4, Task Manager or clicking the X). Interestingly, even though the apps freeze, my cursor is still able to be moved around by my mouse.

My PC isn't top of the line, but it also isn't the worst, I do not think this is a Heat/Dust issue as the PC does not Crash or show a blue screen, everything appears normal until you try to click on something. Sometimes the apps will continue to move until I interact with them and then all other apps will freeze along with the one I clicked on.

The apps I (commonly) run when this happens: Google Chrome, Discord and RuneLite (a client for Old School RuneScape (Don't hate)).


What I have attempted:

- I scanned for Malware using McAfee and MalwareBytes (to no avail)
- I ran diagnostic troubleshooting to ensure my Hardware is in good condition, this is including Graphics Card, SSD, RAM and HD by Running UBCD from a USB, and other commands.
- I have ran scannow in cmd
- I have done a Clean Boot of my PC
- I am currently running my PC at "Best Performance"
- My windows is up to date
- Drivers are up to date

I believe this could potentially be a Windows issue and will require me to reinstall Windows 10. Before backing up my Hard Drive(s), I wanted to see if there were any experts that had a better diagnosis or if this is a Hardware issue that went undetected?

I appreciate any and every insight on the issue.

Thank you,

JP
 
So other can assist let get a speccy report.

Do not forget to post the make and model of the PSU if this is a desktop.

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s.

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.

In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.

Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.
 
as a quick test, try creating another user account and log in under that profile to see if things go pear shaped under that account as well.
also try booting the PC into Safe Mode to see if those issues re-appear.

if either option works, than it is your user profile that is messed up.
if the issue still happens, then it is system wide, and either Windows or hardware based.
 
I would change ‘Best performance’ for ‘Balanced’.
Right click on start & choose powershell with admin & enter:
SFC /SCANNOW
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Is MalwareBytes the free or premium version?
I would uninstall McAfee & use Defender To see if this is the cause of the problem. Ensure you run McAfee’s removal tool.
Windows update is disabled so you may be missing some important security updates, please run Windows update.

A last resort- an in-place repair.
Download the media creation tool, run this & choose upgrade/install, ensure that ‘Keep everything’ is selected & continue with the install.
 
Bruce said:
as a quick test, try creating another user account and log in under that profile to see if things go pear shaped under that account as well.
also try booting the PC into Safe Mode to see if those issues re-appear.

if either option works, than it is your user profile that is messed up.
if the issue still happens, then it is system wide, and either Windows or hardware based.
Click to expand...
The error repeats itself after my computer has been running for a while, it does not occur instantly. The trial and error process has unfortunately been a bit slow as you can imagine as it may take 2 hours for the error to occur.

- Safe mode ran for a while, but (unless I've done it incorrectly) it does nothing really, sure the error did not occur but I also couldn't use my computer for anything. If this is from my own human error please let me know, I won't be embarassed.

- I'll create a new user account and see if that helps with anything. Would I be able to transfer all my data and whatnot cleanly to the new account if that's the necessary remedy? I understand it saves everything to my Hard Drive but would it be accessible to a secondary account?

Thank you for the suggestions
 
Bastet said:
I would change ‘Best performance’ for ‘Balanced’.
Right click on start & choose powershell with admin & enter:
SFC /SCANNOW
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Is MalwareBytes the free or premium version?
I would uninstall McAfee & use Defender To see if this is the cause of the problem. Ensure you run McAfee’s removal tool.
Windows update is disabled so you may be missing some important security updates, please run Windows update.

A last resort- an in-place repair.
Download the media creation tool, run this & choose upgrade/install, ensure that ‘Keep everything’ is selected & continue with the install.
Click to expand...
My apologies for not being specific, my PSU is running at balanced, I'll have to do more research for what I selected as best performance, but it was performance related, all it appears to have done is simplified fonts, and made things a little less "sleek" if you will. I apologize if this is vague, I understand I'm not an expert.

I've ran SFC /SCANNOW (this was the 4th time), and this time it has cleaned up a corrupted file, unlike the other attempts. I was previously running these commands through CMD Prompt so maybe Powershell did the trick? Fingers crossed!

Additionally I've ran the other two commands and restarted my PC.


To answer your question:
My MalwareBytes is Free, it was suggested to me by a friend. I am currently subscribed to McAfee, and I guess I hadn't realized the distrust from the community prior to purchasing a subscription, but that is the reasoning for "double coverage". If I were to uninstall McAfee I fear I'll be both wasting money while exposing my PC to potential threats, is McAfee a common PC ruiner? If yes, I appreciate you letting me know and I'll look into replacing it.

I diasbled Windows Updates as an attempt to remedy this. I have installed the most recent updates earlier today. Hopefully this helps at least a little as well.

I'll look into the last resort option once we get there, but I'm trying to stay optimistic! :)


Thank you so much for your suggestions and assistance. You and all others who take the time to assist are rockstars.
 
your free version of Malwarebytes is fine, and not doubling up, as it doesn't proactively protect you.
it only runs when you tell it to do a scan, so it reactive.
while McAfee isn't bad per say, it's simply not needed.
the inbuilt Win10 Defender app is as good and has rated as high, or higher when compared to most AV software, for many years.
there are plenty of independent testing labs that have continuously rated Defender in the top 3 protection suites.
but for me the biggest benefit is it's not tacked on, it's built right into the OS.

let's see if the problem re-occurs now a corrupted system file has been fixed.

as to Safe Mode, yeah it's limited as to what you can do, it is designed to only bring up the core essentials to run Windows. but if you PC didn't crap out when in Safe Mode, that indicates an issue with software that does get loaded when you boot normally.

creating another user account will further validate that theory.

and yes, if the new user account fixes things, then you simply copy the old folders from the old account across to the new.

for example, old user was called BOB, new user is called TONY.
on your C:\ there's a folder called USERS and inside that you'll see BOB and TONY.
you then copy the contents of BOB's docs, pics, music, videos, downloads, and desktop folders over to the corresponding folders under TONY.
 
Most third party AV software is now so bloated that it can cause more problems than it resolves. You can always reinstall McAfee if this is not the cause of the problem.
If you’ve recently purchased the AV then usually there’s a 30 day money back guarantee.
 
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