Thanks, appreciated- my guess is you've over-tweaked.
As to so-called 'privacy' - telemetry is normal - for, say, satellites, a means of monitoring performance. MS monitors usage and updates etc... it's not that they want your bank details or your dog's name.
As I've said a good number of times, if you're concerned about privacy, you'll never use a cloud service, never use email, never connect to the internet.
I can't recall a thread with exactly your symptom.
I have solved the problem by doing as was suggested, an upgrade install of Windows 10 over the existing problem Windows 10.
Jan 2024 is a perfect time to do so as there is nothing else demanding my attention. So I did an in place install and did not lose any programs. It was relatively quick and I am now back to normal.
What prompted me to do so, was a further, but minor, problem appeared. The Device Manager worked but the right click of 'This PC' > 'Manage', did not display 'Device Manager' option. Again, this is another minor problem but I took it to mean there was some further instability in the system. I do not believe my system was 'over tweaked' as was suggested, but suspect it was due to poorly written uninstallers of regular programs.
I preceded the upgrade, in place install with the usual ChkDsk, SFC, DISM checks which found nothing. Nor was there any malware present. This was a system that was very old and had the full lot of upgrades over the years from the initial Windows 7 x64.
BobxT
I did not see the need to explain HOW I determined that The Device Manager worked but I understand you were trying to be helpful.
The Device Manager option under This PC is simply the means by which I have been used to accessing the Device Manager since Windows XP. I merely took the missing option as a visual indication of another, very small problem in my Win10 system.
And so, everything now is working well and the system is effectively refreshed.
Thanks,
BobxT
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