Should I re-format my disk?

Given that Windows always seems to get slower and slower over time, (due presumably to the registry getting more and more bloated) should I actually format my entire hard disk?

Hi, sorry to hear of your problems. That's not my experience (above) - I clean installed Win 10 on this on its first public release, and have upgraded since then- but only to 1709 (by choice). I have LOTS of programs installed.

No, the registry is not the cause of Windows becoming slower.

You can
a. check your disk
b. check your file system
c. do an in-place upgrade repair install which keeps all programs, data and most settings.

This won't clean your registry (and please don't use tools to do so).

I am completely unable to change the default program for editing .TXT files.

I'm going to guess your Windows build is 1803, and you have update KB4462919 installed. This causes this problem.

1. First check your disk(s):
Download and run Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) (includes SSDs)
(This gives exceptionally good text comments)
Post a screenshot of its GUI using the Insert Image icon above your post.
If all disks are reported as good, continue.

2. Now check your file system:

From an admin command or powershell prompt
[Windows key + X, click command prompt (admin)]
chkdsk C: /F
Your PC will need to restart.
Post back the result, which you can get after a restart as follows:
Read Chkdsk Log in Event Viewer in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials
or
How to read Event Viewer log for Chkdsk in Windows 10 [Tip] | dotTech

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade | Windows 10 Tutorials
- this includes a link from which you can obtain a Windows 10 iso file (" download a Windows 10 ISO"), or create a Win 10 bootable medium. However, this will be the latest build from MS, which may not be the build you have installed. You must use one for the same major build.

** Do this without accepting updates - you can do it with the internet disconnected.

After that you should hide the update mentioned above (Tutorial in the Tutorial section available).

OK, HDSentinel say my hard disk performance is "100% excellent" and my health is "99% excellent"



I shall now run checkdisk, but it requires a reboot. More shortly...

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EDIT01:
OK I have now run checkdisk. Unfortunately when I click "Event Sources" within Event Viewer, there is no drop-downlist of any sort.

* * *

EDIT02:
Is this what you are looking for?

>>>

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> get-winevent -FilterHashTable @{logname="Application"; id="1001"}| ?{$_.providername –match "win
init"} | fl timecreated, message


TimeCreated : 22/10/2018 20:50:37
Message :

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is ALEC12_C_drive.


A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
601344 file records processed.

File verification completed.
13584 large file records processed.

0 bad file records processed.


Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
1505 reparse records processed.

726478 index entries processed.

Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.

0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.

1505 reparse records processed.


Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Cleaning up 11814 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 11814 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 11814 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is compacting the security descriptor stream
Security descriptor verification completed.
62568 data files processed.

CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
34655632 USN bytes processed.

Usn Journal verification completed.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.

Windows has made corrections to the file system.
No further action is required.

487806983 KB total disk space.
170844892 KB in 348251 files.
209296 KB in 62571 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
720251 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
316032544 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
121951745 total allocation units on disk.
79008136 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 2d 09 00 67 43 06 00 e1 d1 0b 00 00 00 00 00 .-..gC..........
98 05 00 00 49 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....I...........

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

>>>

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EDIT03: Yes I am using build 1803 of Windows 10 Pro.

* * *

EDIT04: I have now "Hidden" KB4462919.

Note: if you were to uninstall that update your association problem will probably be resolved. But that's not your only problem of course.

Anyway, you could try that and see which other problems remain and decide what to do then.

I would think your mouse problem is a separate issue- either hardware (could it simply be full of fluff? Have you ever cleaned it out inside?) - or a driver problem.

Note that 2 people have reported hiding KB4462919 didn't work for them. That's assuming they did it correctly- but could that be yet another possible MS problem?

Battles with associations in 1803 seem relatively common- a new phenomenon compared to previous builds. You may just have to compromise for now, or try using Filetypesman (free) and the registry editor as necessary to do it manually.

Have you tried an in-place upgrade repair? (see above).

if I log into my new user profile in windows then Excel opens very fast (e.g. in 3 seconds).

The clue here is that there is a difference between the two profiles.
Examine carefully
- what is running in one vs the other e.g. by comparing a list from task manager, Details created in 1 profile with the other.
- resource usage - is your RAM full in the profile when it is slow? - is there excessive disk actvity?

Have your task manager open, then launch Excel in the problem profile. Note any excessive resource use, and compare with the other profile.

Office startup: other possible diagnostic steps:
a. Check in Safe Mode for reference
b. Compare after a clean boot (if you don't know how see the tutorial here or Google 'What is a clean boot')
If faster, progressively enable items to discover what is conflicting.
c. Use Windows performance recorder (MS tool) to diagnose what's actually happening.
(Search this site for 'Windows performance recorder' for examples of threads where this is used).
- somewhat technical
d. Use Process Monitor (MS tool, sysinternals) to capture all activity to see what happens when you launch Excel.
Technically daunting- massive log.
e. Use Autoruns (free) to disable more startup items to discover what may be slowing Excel
Novices find this tool disconcerting. Simply tick to disable items. They are usefully grouped in categories.


Before making changes for test purposes, make appropriate backups. Don't just rely on System Restore as restoring is widely found to be unreliable (it either works or fails completely).

It's just like upgrading, but going back to an earlier version of the same build. So you get Windows.old created, perhaps a new recovery partition. System Restore points are of course lost (as they should be). The default state of services is re-established...etc.

Hide update:
Windows update minitool (free) has a hide option, or the tutorial.
Hide or Show Windows Updates in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

Note 2 users report they tried to hide that update but it still installed..