Applications crash and stop responding as soon as they're opened

kicoputen · 21 Mar 2018

Hello. I've had a problem with my Lenovo laptop since last week. Every time I try to open an application, excluding the default applications by Windows, they crash as soon as the app opens, and I get a "has stopped working" popup. I've erased potential viruses with Windows Defender, booted the computer in safe mode but the problem persists. I've also noticed that every once a powershell32 window randomly pops up on my taskbar.

dalchina · 21 Mar 2018

Hi, do you have a system restore point or a disk image you can restore created before the problem occurred? (We constantly urge users to use disk imaging routinely e.g. Macrium Reflect (free) ).

Otherwise please do the following routine checks for starters:
1. First check your disk:
Download and run Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) and make sure all disks are reported as good.
If not, do not continue, and post a screenshot of its GUI.

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
or
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!
Make sure the result is clear or fixed- else do not proceed.

3. From an admin command or powershell prompt
SFC /SCANNOW
and report the summary result.

If all ok, please try a clean boot and compare the outcome.

Are you talking about apps downloaded from the Store, or programs you have downloaded from the internet and installed yourself which are crashing?

What is your Windows build?
Windows key + R, winver

Please look at your Reliability History and click on any red x's related to crashes you have experienced.
Post any helpful information.
You may also find a small free program called appcrashview (easy to find) helpful to see such information.

Thanks.

kicoputen · 21 Mar 2018

I encountered two problems while trying to follow the steps. First of all, unfortunately I can't setup Hard Disk Sentinel, or any setup because the setup manager crashes, as it does almost every application. The other problem is when I run Command Prompt as admin, and hit enter after chkdsk C:/F, I got this:

"The type of system file is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule to be checked next time the system restarts? (Y/N)"

So I restarted the computer and repeated the process, but I get the same message.

To answer your other questions, my Windows build is: "16299.309".
Also, I'm talking about applications downloaded from the internet, not from the Windows Store. Apps downloaded from Windows Store work without issue.

dalchina · 21 Mar 2018

Hi, please try a portable (non-installed) program to check your disk.
Portable HD Tune Download

This only checks the SMART parameters so is limited. You can put it on a flash drive e.g.
It should have a Health and Error Scan tab.

Again, do you have a system restore point or a disk image you can restore created before the problem occurred?

chkdsk: assuming it ran when your PC restarted - did you notice? It should take some time, and there would be a prompt asking you if you wanted to skip disk scanning...

As I said above, when your PC reboots, you have to do work to get the result.

However
If given the dire state of your PC you can't do that, try
chkdsk c: /scan
- which does not require a restart and will not fix anything.

If ok, proceed to run SFC /SCANNOW as above.

kicoputen · 21 Mar 2018

Unfortunately not. Also I downloaded Portable HD Tune and so far it hasn't opened.

dalchina · 21 Mar 2018

Please try running
chkdsk c: /scan

Now, I've had a random intuitive thought given the portable program won't run etc..
See
Restore Default File Type Associations in Windows 10 Windows 10 Tutorials
What you try is up to you.
You can try first restoring the default association for exe files- you can try restoring it for all (with obvious consequences for your customised associations).

Do you have any idea what led to this happening? - Did you install something, receive an update...?

At this point we have no idea if your disk is good or not.
Therefore please download and create Kyhi's bootable Win 10 disk with lots of utilities on it from the top of the Software and Apps section here.

Boot your PC from that; on it you will find HD Tune. Run that and post the result.

kicoputen · 21 Mar 2018

"Chkdsk c: /scan" did work, and it says Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems. No further action is required. I ran SFC /SCANNOW after that, and it says Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Do you want me to post the log text?

As far as what led to this problem, I installed a third party application that was detected by Windows Defender as malicious, but I thought the source was trusted so I mistakenly white listed the threats.

dalchina · 21 Mar 2018

Could you say what that was? If the problem has now become removing malware, that changes things. What it was could determine how to try to deal with it.

In general, from the way your PC is behaving, you would need to get one or more bootable AV disks.
Kyhi's disk includes Malwarebytes.

Several here:
Best 6 Bootable Antivirus Rescue Disks for Severely Infected Computer - Tech Support All

Until it's possible to get programs running normally on your PC, trying to correct your system files becomes somewhat irrelevant.

kicoputen · 21 Mar 2018

So the problem appears to be a malware, and not a hard drive problem? Couldn't malware be manually removed?

dalchina · 21 Mar 2018

We don't know for sure... but what you say strongly suggests that.

Again, could you say what the program was please?

Manual removal? Hardly! And do you knew exactly and precisely where, what, and how? We have no idea what has been done to your PC really, or if it's recoverable.

This is why we constantly urge people to use disk imaging routinely (e.g. Macrium Reflect (free) ). Often gives a chance of recovery from a bad situation relatively quickly without technical help- even if a disk fails.