Windows 10: Action Center and Start Menu Die w/ No Way to Revive

I have a Surface Pro 4, fully updated.

I've noticed that periodically, whatever program that powers the Action Center, the Start Menu, and some of the icons in tht Notification Area locks up and I don't know how to restart it.

I won't be doing anything of note at at the time and all of a sudden, all of the above stops. Restarting explorer doesn't do it. Forcing into and out of tablet mode doesn't do it either.

Any ideas on how to jump start this without having to restart?

:)

 

Start menu, Cortana and the Action center no longer works

It won't let me run the trouble shooter, did the display adapter thing and still nothing. So frustrated

 

Start menu, Cortana and the Action center no longer works

Hi, installed the update to Windows 10 and now the start menu, cortana and the action center no longer works. I unistalled the updates and restarted my computer and still nothing. I have a Cyberpower PC gaming system. Can anybody help?

 

Hi, which AV are you using? Some people have reported issues with Avast.

See
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...d-0208c91f5c75

See the beginning then skip straight on to this at the end:



Nate_NC replied on October 7, 2015

 

@dalchina nothing there worked for me. And it keeps happening. usually after I've put my surface to sleep and woken it up a few times. Any other ideas out there?

 

Ok, try a process of elimination looking for conflicts.
a. Clean boot
b. Disable shell extensions using Shellexview (free) - hide all MS extensions, disable the rest. No need to log off etc.
c. If still a problem, check in Safe Mode
- then post back

 

Not sure if that will pinpoint it because it is so unpredictable. It's fine now and may be fine for days...until it isn't. So the problem persisting takes on a bit of a different meaning here.

 

You could try the Reliability and Performance Monitor
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to...onitor-windows
This lists the failures and the problems your machine may have faced.

You will need to configure it for the sort of report you're looking for- sorry, no expert on this..

Also note the time when this occurs, and have a look at Event Viewer and see if anything stands out consistently.

(Experienced users here sometimes decry these small freeware utilities, but you might try these for a quick and easy first look:
Appcrash by Nirsoft
Whocrashed by Resplendence)

Other approaches:
Check your RAM and disk
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to...dware-problems
- an overview.

 

I use the reliability monitor a lot. I'll try it and see if I find something that pops