Windows 10: Uninstalled apps getting re-installed automatically, start menu tiles missing after pinning...

I just bought a Thinkpad X1 Yoga (3rd gen). And I'm now trying to set it up the way I like so that I can start using it. But Windows 10 is making it SO hard. I'm coming to a PC after 10 years on a Mac so maybe these are silly problems bc I don't yet know my way around Windows 10 but it's mighty frustrating.



This is what I did:



1. Turned on laptop and went through initial setup

2. Downloaded all Windows updates as well as Lenovo updates through the Lenovo Vantage app

3. Proceeded to try and uninstall some bloatware. I THOUGHT some programs were missing (more on this later) in the Settings app so proceeded to use the Start Menu, right-clicked, and clicked 'Uninstall'. I did this for programs like Minecraft, Netflix, Fitbit Coach, and Candy Crush Friends. I also rearranged my tiles in the order that I liked.



**Issue 1:** Some apps would be removed after clicking on the 'Uninstall' button. But others would just come back right after! Some would appear as before, others would come back int this weird 'ghost' format where there's a tile and the name but no picture and would be unclickable. Like the 'Candy Crush Friends Saga' button in this picture:






4. So at this point, I decided to restart my computer.



**Issue 2:** After reboot, NONE of the changes that I had made to the Start menu had saved! All my rearranging was gone and ALL the "apps" I thought I had uninstalled came back. My Start menu looks like how it looks the first time I ever opened it:






5. I clicked on Candy Crush Saga and instead of opening, it downloaded and installed! That's when I realized that some of the items in the Start Menu list aren't even real programs. Are they links? Are they ads? I HAVE NO IDEA. What are they and how do I get rid of them?



6. So now out of curiosity, I wonder what apps are ACTUALLY installed and which are just...link/ad/type things. I go to the Control Panel, then Programs and Features. And it's only showing 8 programs installed on my computer?! Other ones I know are installed - like Mail, Microsoft Edge, etc. -- aren't even showing up:





At a loss on what to do. This is a brand new computer. Here are some details about what I'm running:






Someone please help me! I've already spent hours and hours searching online for fixes but I feel like these are multiple problems compounding on me at once.



***Original title: Win10 1803 issues - start menu reset, control panel not showing all programs***

:)

 

Phone tile is missing from the Start Menu.

Original Title: Microsoft Lumina 640 start tile

Last Friday 10th June my Lumina 640 phone updated to the latest Windows 10.

When it restarted the phone tile had disappeared from the start menu.

When I tried to re-pin to start from the list of apps by holding down the app the "Pin to Start" function was grey suggesting that the app was already pinned.

I have unpinned all the start tiles in an effort to find the phone tile but to no avail

Please advise how I can restore the missing phone tile

 

The option "Pin to Start Menu" is missing in the right click menu for People App.

I have been unable to pin a tile to the Start Menu for the Windows 10's People App. The option "Pin to Start Menu" is missing in the right click menu. When I try to drag and drop the entry from the All Apps area to the Start Menu tiles area, it tells
me that the app is already pinned there, but it's not. Are there any steps I can take to activate this option for this app?

 

Windows 10 Start Menu all apps / tiles missing


So I woke my computer up from sleep last night and this is what I was welcomed with:




All of a sudden my start menu had no apps listed and no live tiles to speak of. So I did my googleing and I found this microsoft answer page: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...0-b988cd6da49a

I tried every step in their. After all said and done, I got installed programs to show up, but the live tiles that usually show to the right did not come back. I was ok with that, thinking I would work on this today and find a solution to that problem.

I just woke up the computer again from sleep and the start menu is blank AGAIN. Before this started happening last night, I have not installed any new software nor has windows ran any updates.

I'm at a loss. I tried system recovery and to roll back to a few days prior, but I keep getting an error after recovery is attempted stating that windows recovery wasn't able to fully complete due to a certain file (i can retry recovery and post picture of error if needed).

So any suggestions on whats my next step? I thought maybe I had a malware issue, but II have avast and malware antibytes installed and they showed no hits when the scans where run.

Any suggestions or guidance is greatly appreciated. Hope you all have a Great Turkey Day!

PS, I have to work today from 4pm to 6am, so If I do not reply right away I apologize.