Windows 10 hangs

[Old John]

This is very strange, but for some unknown reason Windows 10 will not let me open some programs (e.g. file explorer, task manager, chrome. But, it will let me open Word, Excel and Edge. When I go to shut it down it just keeps running and running. It is almost like some App has taken over part of the system and won't let go. I have let it run for 4 hours and it never shut down. Obviously I have to disconnect the power cord and do a hard boot to get it back. Any ideas?

 

[Trouble]

for some unknown reason Windows 10 will not let me open some programs

Hello John and welcome to the forum.
First test by rebooting the system into safe mode or safe mode with networking.
Hold the shift key while clicking restart and follow the screen menus.
Advanced -> Troubleshoot -> Startup Settings -> Restart
Choose #4 or #5 from the options presented at restart.
See if the problem persists.
If so then you need to .......
Create a new user account, as a member of the local administrators group (not standard user)
Log on as that user and see if the problem persists.

 

[Old John]

The situation has gone from bad (system still hangs occasionally) to worse. I now cannot open any .exe file - task manager, file explorer, even the command prompt will not open. The error message tells me the file does not have a program attached to it (or something to that effect). I suspect a malware attack. Most of the advise online tells me to fix my registry after I remove the malware thingy. OK, how to get rid of malware thingy. I am currently running Kapersky 2016. Any ideas for us old guys.

 

[william bilyk]

The situation has gone from bad (system still hangs occasionally) to worse. I now cannot open any .exe file - task manager, file explorer, even the command prompt will not open. The error message tells me the file does not have a program attached to it (or something to that effect). I suspect a malware attack. Most of the advise online tells me to fix my registry after I remove the malware thingy. OK, how to get rid of malware thingy. I am currently running Kapersky 2016. Any ideas for us old guys.

It appears to be hard drive issue which needs to be replaced happened to me solution replaced hard drive in my toshiba satelite laptop

 

[ram1220]

It sounds to me as if your HDD was renamed to a different driver letter somehow. An example would be from Drive C to Drive F. I worked on a system recently that had this happen.

 

[Trouble]

I now cannot open any .exe file - task manager, file explorer, even the command prompt will not open

Sounds like you need a exefix there is a fix here
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/fixexec/
Which works on most versions of Windows including Windows 8 so it will probably (although I have not tested it) work on Windows 10.
You definitely need to rid your computer of whatever malicious program may have cause this.

These are the programs I use to generally delouse a computer with virus and or malware issues.
ADWcleaner from here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/dl/125/
JRT (Junkware Removal Tool) from here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/junkware-removal-tool/dl/131/
Norton Power Eraser from here https://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx
Malwarebytes from here http://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/confirm/
Ccleaner from here http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard
TFC.exe (Temporary Files Cleaner) from here http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/files/file/187-tfc-temp-file-cleaner-by-oldtimer/
ESET Online Scanner from here http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/

Eset online scanner is a bit different than the others in that you need to either use
IE or download and run their smart installer if you're using another browser. Then tick
the radio button that says "Enable detection of potentiall unwanted application"
Then click the link that says "Advanced settings", then check all the boxes except the
one that mentions "Use custom proxy settings", unless of course you're using a Proxy
Server. Then just click "Start", it will do a thorough system scan so it takes a long
time.

I don't check the links above everyday, so if you have any problem with any one of them then just Google for the program name but use the site names that I have recommended since I'm relatively certain they are free of extraneous garbage.

 

[Trouble]

An additional resource here
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/file-association-fixer-2-windows-10-8-7
Which is suppose to work with Windows 10 and seems a bit more robust, if you are having trouble with other file associations as well.

 

[Jagman]

I have same problem and even Microsoft support was not able to help.
I too think it is a disk or DRIVER issue.
My PC us a HP Pavilion 440f with a 1tb Seagate from the factory.
My first attempt at 10 was when they offered free and I installed, etc.
But it would "go to sleep" hang, for several minutes, then wake up, process, go to sleep.........
So I went back to 7. But it made me mad so tried again last week, different HDD, a 500gbl
SAME OLE, SAME OLE.
BUT, this time I turned on the Performance Monitor and watched it and ALL meters went to ZERO
EXCEPT THE DISK.
It went to 100% usage, but ZERO on READS, WRITES, BYTES etc everything else.

Microsoft was stumped but was not about to give my CC to HP to find out why their Pavilions are incompatible with Windows 10, so am stuck with 7.

Could be the drivers in 10 are not for the Pavilion about 4 years ago.
BUT, it IS a disk issue, I just dont know how to solve it.