Windows 10: Windows 10 post install tips or bugs

re: Unsupported ... I hate when that happens *Tongue

re: Spybot ...There are much better AVs than Spybot - it used to be fair, but it is known to cause issues on some machines. Suggest uninstall Spybot and Reset Hosts file

re: Clean install ... no one wants to do a Clean install *Wink But if you do it and create image backups, it makes your life much easier. You never have to clean install again - just restore an image in 30-60 minutes. But ... the initial prep does take time.
re: Repair install - Yes... written by the guy who is one of the best at revolving BSODs. Look, he's already on the job

When I see programs such as Spybot on a machine, I wonder What other 3rd tier software might be lurking

Ztruker, CmmTch, essenbe, and topgun are posting - they're all top-notch.

I'll sit on the sidelines

 

Great help! Thanks very much.

I may be imagining things but it seems to be getting less quirky. It didn't crash at all yesterday and for two days straight it didn't shut down when I put it to sleep. It did crash once today though. Not crashing is critical for me as my work sometimes requires many windows to be open at the same time which can take me 15-20 minutes just to set up. Then I use the open windows to create something new from them. A crash at that point is more than exasperating. Win 7 had it's quirks at first but in time it became very stable.

It may be crashing less because of my changed setting for updates, although I'm not sure if the selection is waiting for me to install a waiting download like I want it to do. It's not clear like it was in Win 7.

I heard on NPR Marketplace yesterday an interview with a MS Win 10 engineer. He said something about that they are thinking to let Win 10 be the final version of Windows, by version name. In the future it will just be continually updated automatically. This is fine with me as long as I know beforehand about any new apps it wants to track me with and give me the option to turn them off AND if the auto updates don't make my system crash.

I still can't move (drag) my desktop icons and some are dead which I've replaced. I discovered that you can Cut them where they are and Place them where I want them be to be and that worked ok. Also, creating a shortcut from File Manager (Win Explorer) by dragging it into my desktop didn't work. But Cut/Paste did. I can live with that.

I stumbled upon a solution for the elevated command prompt issue. It turns out that if you R-Click the Start button the menu list already includes "Command Prompt (Administrator)". I tried it and was able to run SFC /verifyonly which resulted on "... no integrity violations". It was there all the time.

You're probably right about Spybot. I must be keeping it for nostalgia since it was the first really good freeware over 10 years ago. Now I use both MalwareBytes and SuperAntiSpyware for manual scans and Security Essentials always on. I could uninstall my old friend Spybot and see if stability improves.

 

Less quirky is good.

There are a lot of things that you can do to make Win10 much more stable. Doing it piecemeal takes a lot of time, that is always your choice. On previous versions of Windows I was reluctant to initially suggest a Clean install ... but with Win10, I believe it is the best thing to do immediately after the upgrade. If a member hasn't been on Win10 too long (hasn't accumulated a lot of data), I still suggest a Clean install, just not as strongly .... unless there are many many issues.

Windows 10 is the last Windows, in name anyway, perpetually updated that's always been the position MS has taken since they decided Win9 wasn't the name.

Windows Update (WU): users don't have as much control over it as in previous Windows. Things are eveolving and there is a little more control.

Command Prompt (Admin) - cool. Look at the other things you can also easily get to on the Quick Access menu (R-click start button)

The Desktop icons is a strange one. Try adjusting some of the view settings
R-click empty space on the desktop
Select View
Press the option to remove the ticks from
auto arrange
align to grid
Yep, Spybot was a fair product years ago, it hasn't kept pace with more nimble vendors though. I strongly recommend uninstalling it - that alone might solve your crashes. Defender is strong enough, and Malwarebytes + SuperAntiSpyware are excellent 2nd lines of defense.

I think I addressed things in your post ... oh -
it's called File Explorer now-a-days File Manager + Windows Explorer = File Explorer *Biggrin

 

"File Explorer" you're right. One of several changed labels we have to learn. Speaking of, I had mentioned my apps listing showed "Unsupported" apps. Later I couldn't replicate the list by R-click Start>Programs and Features. I stumbled on it again now but via a different path: L-click Start>Settings>System>Apps and Features. There it lists my apps and those which are "(Unavailable)" Screenshot of partial list attached. This means they won't work and I should uninstall them?




I uninstalled Spybot with Revo and so far so good. Too early to tell any difference in stability. Before the uninstall I created a restore point and found that System Protection setting did not have C: selected. It was selected before the update. Another flaw.

I played around with the desktop and display settings to see if I could unlock my icons and nothing's working so far.

I find the new "Lock Screen", which I think is the name for the skin that presents itself with the big digital clock before the logon screen, annoying. Just another step/click with no use to me. I went to L-click Start>Control Panel>Appearance and Pesonalization>Personalization, and don't see it there (a scene looking out onto a beach from a cave). How do I remove it from the startup sequence?

 

re: unavailable
See: Solved Under Settings Features what does an unavailable app mean? - Windows 10 Forums
re: Spybot ... uninstalled
Spyboot used to use the hosts file for some of it's protection. If you don't have nay special hosts file requirements (some home networks) then you could look at the hosts file
Paste this string into File Explorer address bar C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
select notepad to open itor
just restore the default hosts file
See: How can I reset the Hosts file back to the default?
Follow the Windows 8.1 or Windows 8 sectionre: Desktop icons
Try creating a new shortcut on the Desktop
Target %TEMP%
Name: Temp (should fill it in automatically)

Can you drag that new one around?
re: Lock screen
See: Lock Screen - Enable or Disable in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums
Notice a pattern? Search the tutorials section for an answer - you'll find lots, and I mean lots, of great stuff there.
The easiest search string is short and descriptive. I searched for Lock screen and found the Enable / Disable one.
IF you pick a tutorial that doesn't seem to be what you want, scroll down to the bottom of the first post and see if the any of the related tutorials are a better match.

Searching the forum also helps (that's how I found an answer to the unavailable question - I wasn't sure what it meant either *Wink ), but there are a lot of threads / posts. Unlike the tutorial section, individual posts might not apply to your machine or the issue on your machine.

re: Restore Points (RP) - it was a conscious decision on the part of MS to have the default as OFF. I don't know why, perhaps because of Win10's new file history. For me, it wasn't an issue ... I turn them off anyway since I rely on other means to repair my system (Dism & SFC & Fail-safe System image backups). The default for RP might change with the 1607 (1608) release on Aug 2

I'm glad you hear that you made the decision to create a RP, not everyone does and then ... well ... it's more work for everyone IF something goes awry.

I thought of something to ask you ... are you using any custom themes or 3rd party shells - that might be a casue of the Desktop icons, but it's just a guess. I'll think of some other things to try and remedy that.

Bill
.

 

I see what you mean about searching within the forum. No sense in repeating the same issues with the same solutions.

I tried your %TEMP% desktop icon idea and it did create on the desktop but it behaved like the rest is now, not able to be dragged. I don't use any 3rd party themes but I do us Fences (is that a "shell") which is a very handy icon organizer. It seems to be working fine. I did discover that I now have a second desktop .ini file icon. The original one, pre- Win 10, is on the lower left hand corner of my desktop. Post Win 10 install a second one appears now on the center left side of my desktop. As I understand it, the ini file is basically the holder of the settings for the desktop and I guess that means where your icons are located on the screen/desktop. Correct? Their information seems odd though:
The old one Location: C:\Users\MyName\Desktop, Created: 2-12-16, Modified: 6-27-16 (date of Win 10 install), Accessed: 2-12-16.
The new one Location: C:\Users\Public\Desktop, Created: 10-30-15, Modified: 10-30-15, Accessed: 10-30-15.

It's odd because the older one which is located where it was before the Win 10 install has the newer dates. Also, I was going to run CCleaner as part of my usual pre-backup routine and it's desktop icon is gone and is not listed in the desktop folder, but the shortcuts are still in the program folders. Before I make any changes I wanted to ask you first. Could these issues be why the icons are locked? Should I try deleting one of the ini files/icons and if so, which one?

 

Stardock Fences has been causing problem with Windows 10 recently. Several in this forum. Try uninstalling it and see if the problem is fixed.

 

To do that would mean unsorting all my icons and if Fences is not the problem, it would be a big hassle to set it up again. I'd rather try something less drastic first such as being related to the .ini files as I described. Any suggestions?

 

If I remember correctly the two .ini files showing on your desktop may be related to whether you have hidden files set to show, or not show, and the same for system operating files. I had both set to show in Win7 and had two .ini files on my desktop. I just checked and mine are both set to "hide" for W10.

I found that setting under File Explorer Options, open Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > File Explorer Options > click the view tab on the window that comes up, there's a folder named Hidden files and folders that has the setting for Hidden files. Four boxes below that is the Hide protected operating system files setting.

That was the reason for the two.ini files on my desktop on Win7, both were set to "show" That might be they're on yours.

 

Drat, I was hoping a new shortcut would not exhibit this behavior

I think Ztruker provided the solution, he was helping in another thread - uninstalling Fences was the solution.

+1 Ztruker !

The desktop.ini files contain information on how to present folders to the desktop
There are many things that could be in there, but I don't believe any would affect the issue. Mostly icons, overlays, content type, name s, format ... that sort of stuff).
See: Why Are There Two Desktop.ini Files On My Desktop What Do They Do?

To do that would mean unsorting all my icons and if Fences is not the problem, it would be a big hassle to set it up again. I'd rather try something less drastic first such as being related to the .ini files as I described. Any suggestions?

Create a System image to restore if Fences is not the culprit
if Fences is the culprit - installing it new instead of carrying it over in an upgrade might fix it.
Otherwise, uninstall it.

Windows System Image: System Image - Create in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Many members prefer Macrium Reflect, I am not familiar with it though
Macrium Reflect Free

Macrium Reflect KnowledgeBase - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

 

First, I forgot to confirm that Slartybart's instructions to remove the Lock Screen worked great. Thanks.

CmmTch: The path you wrote doesn't lead to the hidden files option in File Explorer for me. I got to it by File and the View tab and to the right is Hidden Items and it was checked. I unchecked it and the .ini icons disappeared. I had it set to show hidden files in Win7 for easier troubleshooting. My issue isn't that I don't want to see the .ini file icons though, it's about a possible conflict caused by them both existing. From what you wrote it sounds as if that having two may not be a problem. I guess I can just cut/paste the CCleaner shortcut into the desktop and see what happens.

If I still have problems with the icons I'll create a restore point then uninstall Fences. I guess if the icons can then be dragged afterwards, that would be a good indication Fences itself was the problem.

 

Restore point is what I was going to suggest too. You could also use DesktopOK to remember desktop icon locations, at least temporarily while you uninstall Fences. It's one of the first programs I install for any Windows system.

 

Thanks. DesktopOk looks like a viable alternative.

Since the two desktop .ini file icons are normal, I just hid them behind a desktop sticky. I'm going to hold on to the the icon for the Elevated Command Prompt for now, just in case I roll back to Win7, although it's looking good to keep Win10. I created another shortcut icon for Ccleaner and it ran ok but I didn't execute the cleaner because of what it showed in the pre-clean list, below.




Inside the blue box are some programs. Ccleaner's never listed such items before. This is the first cleaning since I Installed the Win10 update. I haven't been asked anything about the these programs since the update. Did Win10 uninstall these programs automatically? What does this mean and what should I do?

 

That CCleaner screen says your OS is Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit ...Not Windows 10 Pro. ???
You can type "winver" in your dos prompt admin to check on which Windows version you are running.

 

Ccleaner among other things shows you have about 1,278MB of dump files, meaning programs on your computer that have crashed.
CCleaner is not removing any of those programs you have listed in your square box, its just cleaning out the un-needed files from those programs.