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How to recover from a "Catastrophic Error"?
Hello Everyone. I am new to this forum, but I will try to be brief. I downloaded and installed Windows 10, no problems. I also updated with all current updates. I only have a few things installed as I built this computer with Win 8.1 and then got the free Upgrade. I have:
Steam, with a couple of games only
Acronis True Image 2015 ... thank God!
ESET Smart Security 8
Everything was working like a champ! Not a single problem...everything seemed flawless. Then, for no particular or known reason, when I booted up, Windows told me it needed to check my C: hard disk (2 Teribyte Seagate 7200 RPM, brand new). After it did the disk check, computer rebooted and then I had to reverify my Microsoft Account, Login to Windows and also lost my Steam Account Login and ESET Security setting for family network. After this, Windows acted like I had been hit by a mac truck. The task bar would not work properly and hung up on me. The START menu lost everything on it and hung up. I could not access Control Panel. It almost felt like a virus had gotten me...when I click on the minimal menu icons in Start, I got a "Catasrophic Error" message, SORRY...I did not write it down, foolish me!
But THANK GOD, I had Acronis True Image 2015 with an imaged backup of the entire hard disks I have (3) and I was able to recover, with just a few game play saved files lost! No big deal, I got Windows 10 back. After this, I am like, OMG! I have just experienced a fatal crash, and I don't even know why...so I have several questions I would like answered. I would like to have an answer to each question if possible...
1). How do I set up a Log File that reports system crashes and catastrophic events like this that I can access at boot up?
2). I could not use START properly, the POWER option on the Start Menu was GONE...and the command line was not responding...in this case, I could not reboot in Safe Mode, I could NOT use the function SHIFT + POWER OPTION + RESTART. This was terrifying folks. It was a major catastrophe. I do not know enough about Win 8.1 or Win 10 to know yet how to attempt recovery...as I only had Win 8.1 for a couple of days before upgrading to 10. I have a UEFI BIOS but NOT an SSD drive, I have standard hard disks so the boot sequence is not a flash. How do I get the old DOS Safe Mode with Network Options? How do I REPAIR a borked/corrupted operating system using Windows tools that are not available to me when the operating system is borked which leads to....
3). How to use System Recovery Tools at the DOS or boot level to Recover Windows?
4). Because I upgraded, I do not have a system disk with repair tools like I would if I had purchased a DVD of Win 10.
How do I create a Windows 10 Repair Disk I can boot from and use Repair Tools, to either REINSTALL or REPAIR Windows 10?
5). How do I launch Safe Mode in Windows 10 from Boot?
Thanks for any help.