Win 10 PC problems.
 

This morning, while attempting a PDF download, my computer 'froze'.
I eventually managed to get the task manager going and closed down Firefox but the machine remained unresponsive.

Clicking on the restart option didn't work so I had to resort to a hard shut down.
On restart, clicking on icons in the task bar didn't open programmes eg Mail.
I've had slightly more success when clicking a desktop icon.

I can't see what's going on deeper in the system as calling up task manager now gets only as far as the four options ie swap user etc. and no further.

I'm using my iPad at the minute and the Windows machine, at present showing the Google home page, is extremely slow, to the point of freezing, to open up other sites or programs.

Any thoughts or suggestions as to how to proceed will be welcomed.

Ta!

I would virus scan this first. It's strange that it slows down, but doesn't spit out errors. There may be errors in the error logs, but it's painful to go through those.

It could be a bit of failing hardware that is complaining and causing the system to try to address those issues before moving on to useful work.

Thanks for your reply, UT.

I've managed to close down the Firefox home page but clicking on the AVG icon does not bear fruit. I've also tried right clicking and then the 'Open' option but the beast remains inert.

Interesting that you should mention possible hardware failure in progress.
The machine is now some years old. It was a barebones system to which I added drives (various) and also RAM, if memory serves correctly, so to speak.
I installed Win 7 then the free update to Win 10 and it has soldiered on pretty much uncomplainingly.
I do wonder if it is on its way out though.

Not sure that I want to shell out for a replacement!

In that case I would try reseating the memory sticks first, maybe even swapping them around.

OK, thank you. I'll give that a whirl later this afternoon.

Watch and pray! :eek:

Or, your machine is downloading and installing an update to Windows 10. Unless you've been diligently proactive (like some computer geek) they've been.. Accumulating. And eventually they will be installed.

They can be very large to download and very, very very long to install.

All you can do is suffer patiently.

That's a good point. I remember an occasion with similar symptoms.
I'll give it a chance to return to normal operation but I fear that it might be about to expire this time!

Will right clicking the Start menu icon in the lower left hand corner give you a text menu? If it does, try >Settings>Update & Security>Troubleshoot>Blue Screen... and all of the other categories that may be relevant for the built-in troubleshooter to analyze and repair.

Get to Settings any way you can because the Troubleshooter under Update & Security covers more than just those two things.

Ok finally had time to browse the cellar properly and suddenly realized Win wan't a verb here.....

My thanks go to Undertoad, BigV and sexobon for the time and effort expended to help me out.

Right, here comes the embarrassing bit.

Having gone through all the measures proposed yesterday evening and then again this morning, the penny dropped with a sickening thud.

You'll recall that right clicking on an icon resulted in a menu appearing but left clicking on an option did not bear fruit.

Eventually it occurred to me that the fault might be with my cordless mouse.

After some searching I found a corded mouse, plugged in and, mirabile dictu, all was well.

I'm sorry to have troubled you all. I suppose that its an object lesson in looking for the simplest explanation first.

Also, it spurred me on to backing up documents and pictures to an external drive in the last half an hour or so.

I was truly worried that they might have disappeared forever.

Once again, many thanks. :thumb:

Glad it got sorted out!

There is always this kind of confusion it seems... too many moving parts in a PC. It's why tablets became popular, plus they can easily be factory reset.

Superior computers come with comprehensive diagnostics provided for free. These execute without Windows so as to break a problem down into simple parts. Eliminates confusion. With minimal labor.

In multiple cases, diagnostics even found defective hardware on computers that failed rarely -intermittently. Identified that defect before its warranty expired.

What is the advantage of a wireless mouse? Mouse is only used at that machine. Adds more hardware to fail. And has something very unreliable - batteries.

No wire

Heh, I view that as a disadvantage, as the wire provides power, and acts as a tether if I ever bump it off the desk.