Windows 10: Glitches in my Administrator Account - not in other accounts

Does it work if you create a new user account? You could try restoring your PC to an earlier working state via System Restore, recover from a working backup or try a repair install Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

 

This one is a tough nut!!! It started when W10 first came out and I installed it on top of W7. I've been struggling with it since then. I'm too old and have too many programs so I don't want to consider a clean install. A System Restore would be of no help. I haven't tried a NEW user account (ADDENDUM: I JUST TRIED A NEW USER ACCOUNT AND THAT DIDN'T WORK)- but have tried existing user accounts and that doesn't work. I've performed more than one repair install - no luck. I've tried ShellExView from NirSoft to try and isolate a badly acting startup program and that doesn't work. I've tried a clean boot - doesn't work. Tried sfc /scannow - no luck. TRIED DISM - RESTORE HEALTH - DIDN'T WORK, Other people on the 'net have had the problem - but their solutions haven't worked for me. I'm persistent - any idea where to turn to next? I'm willing to try...........

*BiggrinMAYBE GREAT NEWS!!! I JUST TRIED TO BOOT IN SAFE MODE. THE ERROR I'M DEALING WITH DOESN'T HAPPEN IN SAFE MODE. DOES THAT PROVIDE A CLUE AS TO WHAT TO DO NOW - GIVEN THAT I'VE TRIED ALL THE METHODS ABOVE?

 

It seems you have something loading which is causing problems. I recommend Autoruns to control what startup program / service / task is running - see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/sys...loads/autoruns

 

Good morning, Nisko. The line above in blue.... that app has absolutely nothing to do with startup programs.

This excerpt from your post:

It started when W10 first came out and I installed it on top of W7. I've been struggling with it since then. I'm too old and have too many programs so I don't want to consider a clean install.

That was 2+ years ago. There were, and still are, known problems (I can't list them all), installing W10 on top of Win 7. That migration path caused lots of problems for lots of people (again, far too many to try to list).

Booting into Safe Mode without getting the issue says something that is starting up is messed up. Don't mean to sound glib about it, but that's it. You've got something starting/running that is just not right. Yes, you could disable everything, then go thru each and every entry enabling one at a time, and re-boot to see where it fails. It could be one, or a combination, or conflicting apps. It would be, at best, a hit-and-miss trial-and-error process. Miss one step and you have to start all over again.

I realize what you do not want to do, but you've been at this now for 2 days. Honestly, you could spend another 2 weeks with this approach, and be no better off.

2+ years of fighting with a Win10 over Win 7 install just is not worth it.

Bite the bullet. Clean install. Get it over with. I don't recommend clean installs as a fix-all for every post on TF, but in your case it seems prudent.

The choice, of course, is yours.

TC

 

Thank you all for the help and direction. I am earning something - so there is a real plus side for me. I want to try autoruns next. Can someone please recommend a site with the best instructions on how to use autoruns efficiently? If this doesn't work, I'll consider a clean install. Thank you again (I hope all of you get this message!!!).

 

This is the official link. There is an overview and some usage there also. And related links.

Autoruns for Windows - Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Docs

 

That's the same link I gave in post 16.

 

You are correct. To save Nisko hunting for it, and to answer his last post, I simply posted it again. Wording is a bit easier to read, and I just wanted to make it as simple as possible for the OP. You do, of course, deserve full credit for posting the link first.

 

Autoruns will tell you everything that starts automatically (but you can subset by drivers, log-on items etc by picking the relevant tab).





As safe mode works the most obvious thing to do would be to go to Everything tab and then on the Options tab tick Hide Microsoft Entries





You can then disable everything remaining (untick them in the LHS column) and see if normal boot works.

If that works, enable them one by one (or if you have lots, in batches)

For example enable things with names beginning A --> M leaving N --Z disabled and repeat until you find the problematic one. It should not take too many iterations to find the culprit.

 

I know - thank you. I printed it out. I thought that, maybe, there might be another tutorial on how to use it - but I'll make out just fine with the link you sent. Thanks again!!!

THANKS, STEVE. I BELIEVE THE ITEMS RUNNING AT STARTUP ARE THE ONES HIGHLIGHTED IN PINK?

I ALSO HAVE LIGHT BLUE AND YELLOW LINE ITEMS. ARE THE MEANINGS OF THE COLORS IN THE HELP FILES? I LOOKED BUT MUST HAVE MISSED THAT INFORMATION.

I'M LEARNING A LOT FROM YOU FOLKS AND APPRECIATE IT. IT'S A PRIMARY REASON I'M NOT YET READY TO THROW IN THE TOWEL AND DO A CLEAN INSTALL. I'M RETIRED SO I HAVE SOME TIME.

BTW, THE TYPE OF SEARCH YOU'RE REFERRING TO, I.E. A-M, N-Z, IS CALLED A "BINARY SEARCH." FOR INSTANCE, IF THE PROBLEM IS IN A-M (AND NOT N-Z), YOU JUST SPLIT A-M IN HALF AND DO THE SAME THING. IT SURE BEATS GOING ONE BY ONE! IT'S VERY EFFICIENT AS I'M SURE YOU KNOW.

I WON'T SHUT OFF ANYTHING I'M NOT SURE ABOUT UNLESS I CHECK WITH YOU FOLKS - IF THAT'S OK WITH YOU.

THANKS FOR THE SCREENSHOTS ABOVE!

 

I usually just focus on the tabs for Logon, Scheduled Tasks & Services. Be careful of disabling drivers since your PC may not boot if you disable something vital. Check the options for each user account you have created under Users since options can differ between users.

 

Steve, I edited the post you sent to me with the screenshots - by adding more content - but, by editing, I don't know if you got notified. I found the answer to my question about the highlighting - but there's more.

 

It would be simpler to comment if you could post a separate screen shot for what you see under the tabs Logon, Scheduled Tasks & Service for your main account and Hide Microsoft Entries set to hidden.

 

Pink/Red: Indicates no publisher information was found, or if Verify code signatures" is enabled under Options > Filter Options, means that the digital signature either doesn’t exist or doesn’t match (not verified, unsigned), or there is no publisher information.
Green: Indicates changed entries and is used when comparing (from the File menu) against a previous set of Autoruns data to indicate an item that wasn’t there last time.
Yellow: Indicates "File not found" in the expected location (Image Path). Meaning the startup entry is there, but the file or job it points to doesn’t exist anymore. This coding is not always reliable if the full path is not in Windows Registry entry and even then you should check any subkeys. In most cases these entries are harmless leftovers (remnants) from uninstalled applications...many program uninstallers do not perform an adequate job of completely removing them.
Blue: Indicates the location where the group of entries is found...usually a Registry key.

Autorun - General Security

For the sake of this task (disabling/enabling them to find any problem one) you can ignore the colors.

 

@Steve C: This is what Autoruns shows with Microsoft Entries Hidden. Scheduled Tasks will be on the next post.