Strange Problem

I noticed a strange issue with my PC today. I am running Win 10 Pro (64 bit) and after I restarted my PC today, I observed the following things:

1. Some of the icons are missing on the taskbar. There used to be icons for Store, Calculator, Edge on my taskbar.

2. I also observed that when I clicked on the Start button, I did not see the Start menu window. Moreover, when I right click anywhere (on a icon, folder, desktop, etc.) it takes a long time for the context menu to show up.

3. I also have proper security software (Bitdefender & Malwarebytes AntiExploit). The system settings window too takes a long time to open.

4. It seems that anything related to the modern metro apps does not work. When I click on the search bar (at the bottom and search for something like Paint, Snipping Tool, I am unable to open the program from the search results.

What could this be? My PC used to be fast before this. I am running an entire system scan for threats as I write but really doubt this is related to any malware. Thanks!

Its probably related to a recent update. First thing to do is a simple restart, it sometimes sorts itself out. If not then it would be worth trying a system restore to an earlier point in time when it was working properly.

System Restore Windows 10

Nzyme said:

I noticed a strange issue with my PC today. I am running Win 10 Pro (64 bit) and after I restarted my PC today, I observed the following things:

1. Some of the icons are missing on the taskbar. There used to be icons for Store, Calculator, Edge on my taskbar.

2. I also observed that when I clicked on the Start button, I did not see the Start menu window. Moreover, when I right click anywhere (on a icon, folder, desktop, etc.) it takes a long time for the context menu to show up.

3. I also have proper security software (Bitdefender & Malwarebytes AntiExploit). The system settings window too takes a long time to open.

4. It seems that anything related to the modern metro apps does not work. When I click on the search bar (at the bottom and search for something like Paint, Snipping Tool, I am unable to open the program from the search results.

What could this be? My PC used to be fast before this. I am running an entire system scan for threats as I write but really doubt this is related to any malware. Thanks!

This thread helped me sort out my missing icons problem. I hope it does for you too.
Notification Area Icons - Hide or Show in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

I have reset my PC (keep files option) and now see drive errors sometimes. This happened earlier as well and I replaced my HDD with a new one (its just been a month).