Windows 10: Start Menu works but cannot be altered in any way

This is a problem that affects my PC but, oddly, not my laptop. Both are running W10 build 1809. On both devices, I like to create my own categories and specify which tiles appear in them. Since the most recent upgrade to 1809, this is no longer possible on the PC. I can change things around, change the size and set it as I like but if, for example, I open a program then come back to the Start menu afterwards, everything has reverted to as it was before. There are also a number of tiles which contain the download symbol and hovering the mouse gives a message "a great app is on its way". I would like to get rid of them permanently but cannot. If I go to Settings/Personalisation/Start, I can change the Off/On slider buttons but if I move to another page and back again, they have reverted to what they were before I changed them.
I have refreshed W10 once but cannot be bothered with all the hassle of having to reinstall all the non-Windows apps I use such as Firefox, VLC Media Player, Thunderbird, Audacity and numerous others.
Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

:)

 

Start menu not working

I found the following article, ran the suggested powershell command and my start menu is working again. Here it is as I found it:
Go to Start menu button and right click on it. This will open the contextual menu, after which you need to select Command Prompt (Admin). Once Command Prompt is open, go ahead with the following steps.

• Type and enter: Powershell
• Type the following: Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

 

Start menu and taskbar not working.

Hi Deva,

Thank you for updating.

I suggest you to refer the link below and follow the troubleshooting steps suggested.

Troubleshoot problems opening the Start menu or Cortana.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-10/get-help-windows-start-menu

Hope the Start menu works after performing the steps suggested. Thank you.

 

Start menu is not working on Windows 10

Hi,

Iunderstand the frustration if things are not working fine as expected.

Please help us with below details,

• • • • • 
          When you say "If I sign in under my user name I am in some earlier version", which version you are referring to?
          
        • 
          Did you made any recent changes to your computer prior to the issue?
          
        • 
          When you say “I cannot access the start menu and am limited to IP as a browser” Is it refers to Microsoft Edge?
          

As an initial steps, I suggest you to check for the Windows version. To do so, follow the below steps:

1) Login to your computer through user name on which it show earlier version of Windows.

2) Press Windows key + r.

3) Type winver, hit enter.

For the issue related to start menu, I suggest you to refer to the below Microsoft help article and check,

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ubleshoot-problems-opening-start-menu-cortana

Reply with results and necessary information to help you further.

Thank you.