Windows 10: chm handling broken [SOLVED]

Applying the latest updates 2004 I think has killed chm handling.
I use chm a lot. Last week pages displayed instantly, now 20-40 seconds.
Everything else seems fine. Initial disk load is 0%.

typical timeline fully repeatable here, in mins:seconds:
1:00 open a chm any chm, any drive - disk usage of C: jumps to 100%.
1:25 page displays without formatting but I do nothing yet
2:00 disk usage of C: drops to 0%
2:10 I enter options/refresh in the chm - disk usage of C: jumps to 100%.
2:35 page displays with formatting mostly
3:10 disk usage of C: drops to 0%
3:20 refresh again - disk usage of C: jumps to 100%.
3:40 page redisplays properly
4:20 disk usage of C: drops to 0%
4:25 close chm - disk usage of C: jumps to 100%.
5:20 disk usage of C: drops to 0%

Doing anything at all with a chm triggers a full minute-worth of 100% disk C usage.
I have seen several other reports of 100% disk usage, but this is provably very chm-specific.
What I'd like to try next is reinstalling every bit of chm-handling stuff, how do I do that?


UPDATE: I cleared out C:\Users\Pete\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache and the problem seems resolved...

I also excluded one chm from windows defender all are now fine, and uninstalled malwarebytes which appeared to have no effect


PS Where do I go to reclaim the 36 hours of my life that I just lost?

:)

 

can't open CHM file on win10

Hi xalspaero

Chm files should open in Windows 10 without any issue

Right click a chm file and choose Open with

Does Microsoft Help HTML Executable appear in the list?

If not, scroll down and click 'More Apps'

Again check for Microsoft Help HTML Executable, if that s not in the list, at the bottom, click 'Look for another app on this PC'

Navigate to find: C:\Windows\hh.exe

If that file does not exist, click the link below to download HTML Help Workshop and Documentation, which will contain hh.exe

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/detail...

 

chm display small box with "x" instead of graphic content

As a first step, open the folder containing one chm file that is not working. Right-click on a chm file, select Properties, and then check the box that says "unblock". Then try to open the chm and let me know if it is working. Until I read this post, I was unaware of any chm issues on my own system, but I found that Windows is blocking all of my chm files.

 

best way to convert chm to pdf or print whole chm?

I'm not asking about printing or saving page as PDF. That I can do with cute PDF, tinypdf etc.
But I need to convert whole chm book to PDF so I can have print (hard copy) of it Bcz in chm I can take print of whole book at once.