Windows Repair Tool has broken my laptop.

Hello @Taffy078,

Taffy078 said:

5. I pressed the Win + X keys together but this is what showed.
Attachment 349717
There’s no “Command Prompt (Admin)” there; is it one of the other names?
What should I do now, please?

OK. Type cmd in the Search Box. When the cmd appears [ under Best Match ], click the CMD - Run as Administrator in the right-hand side of the screen.

I hope this helps.

As stated, If you press the Windows key +X and choose Powershell (Admin) you can type most Command Prompt commands like
DISM /Online /CLEANUP-IMAGE /RestoreHealth and press Enter when that's done type
SFC /scannow and press Enter
or most of the other commands suggested.

Or as stated, type CMD in the Search bar, and Right clicking the CMD results and Run As Administrator . Either way works.

I had a problem on my previous laptop. An 'expert' in the MS Community told me to run an App to resolve the problem. I did and it destroyed the laptop. I won't name her but a better and well-respected expert in that Community frequently challenges her advice. I had Macrium installed on that laptop but it didn't have the image so I didn't bother to install an imaging App on my current laptop. (The phrase "S*d's Law comes to mind )

I also had Norton installed on this laptop but I was advised in that Community that I didn't need it, so I uninstalled it.

I removed and then installed my Office, as suggested there, but it didn't change things.

What frustrates and angers me is that I had what appeared to be a minor problem. I was advised there to run Windows Repair and it 'recked my laptop, rather than repair it. I now have to accept that I have lost more than ten year's history of my medical records and Forum Owners there won't reply to my many requests for help

It's now 2.37am here and I need my sleep. My brain is confused by what's happened.

PS It's now 4.58am here and I've had another thought. When I follow the advice here and get rid of the virus, will then be able to use my Office Apps and my note pad?


I think you may need to face the fact that you have been hit with a virus, or some other event which has corrupted your files. It sounds like you have no backup created of anything to a location outside the computer such as a USB external drive?[/QUOTE]

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spunk said:

As stated, If you press the Windows key +X and choose Powershell (Admin) you can type most Command Prompt commands like
DISM /Online /CLEANUP-IMAGE /RestoreHealth and press Enter when that's done type
SFC /scannow and press Enter
or most of the other commands suggested.

Or as stated, type CMD in the Search bar, and Right clicking the CMD results and Run As Administrator . Either way works.

Thank you Spunk. When I finally re move the virus, will I be able to create new Excel & Word documents? And my notepad? All were corrupted by Windows Repair [(sic) should be renamed Windows Recker]. I uninstalled my Office using Revo Pro and reinstalled it but that too was corrupted.

So what should I do about my Office app, please?

At this stage, I would First download ADWCleaner and run a full scan and delete whatever it finds, then I would download Malwarebytes, run a full scan and Quarantine anything it find. After running those programs and restarting, if Windows isn't fully restored then
If you have a Virus and it gets deep into your system, a tool like Windows Repair Tool may remove the Virus, but it may also take some of your infected system files with it.
Then we suggest doing a Repair Install keeping files. For seriously infected computers, it is suggested to do a Clean Install
Once your computer is running smooth, then make a Macrium Reflect image and save it to an external drive

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a fantastic present: I resolved this problem myself.

I'll post full details shortly of what I did of course but first I need to post in the latest MS Forum's Moderation Requests to stop anyone there wasting time trying to help me. The problem is that the previous thread was locked and the Forum Owner didn't put a link to the new thread when she locked it.
I know that @Brink is a member there so may I ask him if he would kindly post a link to the latest thread when he replies to this. Thanks

PS 21H1 – 19043.1288

Taffy078 said:

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a fantastic present: I resolved this problem myself.

I'll post full details shortly of what I did of course but first I need to post in the latest MS Forum's Moderation Requests to stop anyone there wasting time trying to help me. The problem is that the previous thread was locked and the Forum Owner didn't put a link to the new thread when she locked it.
I know that @Brink is a member there so may I ask him if he would kindly post a link to the latest thread when he replies to this. Thanks

PS 21H1 – 19043.1288

Hello mate,

Hope you had a great B-Day.

This below is the latest for Windows 10.

KB5006738 Windows 10 2004 19041.1320, 20H2 19042.1320, 21H1 19043.1320

Hi Brink. I should have been clearer - blame my birthday celebrations!

What I need is the link to the latest Moderators Requests in the MS Community, please. The last one I found had been closed by the Forum Owner but she didn't show a link to the next one, as she usually does.

PS I'm seriously thinking of replacing my Lenovo Y520 laptop. It frequently changes words so that they appear backwards as I'm inputting them, the keyboard is unusal and sometimes causes problems and there are some niggles. Their forum help at Moderator level is non-existent. Is there a section of your Forum where I can ask for vie should buy, please?ws on what laptop I
OMG It's moved the cursor without me touching the mouse or the laptop. My preceding sentence (now in red) should have been "Is there a section of your Forum where I can ask for members' views on what make/model of laptop I should consider and whether there are any teething problems with Windows 11. Is it a fairly simple job to transfer everything from my old laptop to the replacement?

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Hi. Thank you all for your help and patience. I've now resolved the problem as follows:


Word. I opened View and whatever caused this (Windows Repair App most likely) had checked Gridlines. I unchecked this and as a result all my Word documents (including those saved on my E drive (File History) and G drive (Daily) are now correct.
Excel. I right-clicked Properties and, again, whatever caused this, had set "open with" to Notepad. I changed it to "open with Excel" and all my Excel documents (in/cluding those saved on my E drive (File History) and G drive (Daily) are now correct.
I did the above yesterday and was relieved to find today that the changes I'd made had been saved.

As a result I have retrieved my lost Medical records going back 14 years and all my Word and Excel documents are now functioning properly, including those saved on my E and G drives.

System Restore wouldn't restore everything to the day before the incident so I now realise that that's my fault. Tomorrow I'll check out how to save info for System Restore to create dates and then I'll make that a weekly task. Thanks again for your help.

Glad to hear you got it sorted.
I would not depend on System Restore, as you found out, it is not very reliable.
Once your computer is running well, I would create an Image file of your computer using Macirum Reflect or your favorite cloning software and save the Image to a USB HDD. When disaster strikes, with a virus or HDD failure, you can restore the Image back to your drive and be back up and running in Minutes not hours or days.