Why can't I click on my Start Menu (sometimes)?

I am running Windows 10 on a 15 month old Dell laptop. Starting yesterday, I've been having trouble clicking on items on the Windows Start Menu. When I try to launch an app by clicking on a Start Menu icon, no border is drawn around the icon and the app won't launch. This applies to any app I've tried.

The only thing that relieves the problem is a restart of Windows but even that only gives temporary relief. After a few hours, I'm suddenly unable to click on Start Menu items again.

I'm baffled. I haven't done any Windows Updates in several days so that doesn't seem to be the cause. The only thing I've done to my computer in the last few days is revert my Avast back to the free version after doing a free trial of their paid version. But I did that a couple of days before the problem started.

Can someone tell me how to resolve this problem? Also, is there any workaround? I'd love to be able to launch programs while we're figuring this out.

I've had the same issue on multiple computers, so maybe it isn't just you. Sadly, don't know how to fix it :/

dalchina said:

Does that only affect the Start Menu - not e.g. the desktop or taskbar?
I've not heard of that before.

If no solution, you could simply try Classic Shell start menu (free) - excellent reputation, and works with large complex start menus with sub-sub folders when Win 10's doesn't. Drag 'n drop, can launch apps, better search bar than Cortana's - and you can still use the Win 10 start menu if you want.

Like the best combination of XP and Win 7 start menu features- very configurable. But no tiles.

It would at least give you a comparison and show whether the effect is Start Menu only related.

Sorry for the delay in replying; it's been a hectic few days!

The problem is most noticeable in the Start Menu. It happens intermittently. I can resolve the problem every time by signing out and signing back but that takes around 10 minutes each time and relief from the symptoms can be as short as a few minutes before I have to sign out and back in. As you can imagine having to spend 10 minutes on signing out and in to get five minutes relief from the problem is a massive drain on my productivity and very frustrating as well.

I have had the occasional lag when clicking on some taskbar icons but they usually work, if not on the 1st click then the second or third or fifth. Another odd thing I noticed today is that when I clicked on my keyboard list icon on the task bar - I have a few different keyboards installed for the rare occasion where I am writing French or German and need the accents - the list was empty. The background for the list seemed to be the right size but none of the text in the list was visible.

I'm also finding the computer very slow to respond to clicks in general but, again, intermittently. I've had issues with "not responding" in Firefox (especially) for months. This laptop is just over a year old and came with the substantial memory but I'm starting to wonder if I need to add some more.

Where do I find Classic Menu so that I can try it? Is that a built-in Windows feature that I can turn on/off or is it an add-on that I need to track down and install?

dalchina said:

Hi, to establish basics:
a. You have a laptop - do you experience the same problems if using your touchpad as an external mouse?
b. What sort and type of connection is your external mouse- assuming you're using one?
c. If you boot to Safe Mode, do you experience the same delays?
d. What build number is your Windows (Win key + R, winver)?

Please also post a screenshot of your task manager when your PC is nominally idle (normal boot). (Lag can be due to high resource use).

Also, given your log off/on times, please download and run CrystalDiskinfo (Easy to find) and post its displayed result (SMART param check on your disk).

If good, please do this basic file system check:
From an admin command 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:
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!

Classic Shell start menu is a free 3rd party highly recommended configurable start menu with a good search box that optionally behaves like Win 7/XP start menus. You can still use Win 10's start menu when it's installed. Very low resource use.
Easy to find.

Sorry for the delay; I didn't finally read your suggestions until a short time ago.

I found Classic Shell a few minutes after I posted asking about it; all it took was a simple search I've been using it all day and it has been reliable, unlike the way the Windows 10 Start Menu has been behaving the last few days. Classic Shell has done everything I needed it to do so far, although I probably haven't done everything I might want it to do. Nevertheless, I would like to get the Windows 10 Start Menu working a lot better if it isn't too time-consuming.

I don't normally use a mouse any more and don't have one handy; however I'll be borrowing my brother's mouse for a bit tomorrow morning and will post back with the results then. (It's nearly 10pm local time right now.)

I haven't booted into Safe Mode yet. I did find some instructions on how to do that in Windows 10 and I see it's changed yet again. I'll do that in the morning as well. Does it matter *which* safe mode I use for your purposes: Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, or Safe Mode with command prompt?

My Windows Version is 1607 and my build number is 14393.953.

What parts of Task Manager do you want in screen captures? Please specify which tabs and whether you just want the first few entries (after they've been sorted) or if you want all of the entries.

I found and installed CrystalDiskInfo easily enough but what information do you want from it? Just the report that displays when you launch it? Or do you want me to run some of the different functions? I'm running the current version, which is 7.0.5.

I haven't run the chkdsk yet because I'm not sure the CrystalDiskInfo is "good". Are you looking for a specific number in a specific parameter or do you just want the "Health status" to be (literally) "Good"? The status *is* Good.

dalchina said:

Hi, Status 'good' from Crystal Diskinfo is fine, so you can run chkdsk.

If unsure of procedures e.g. how to boot to safe mode, there is a host of professional quality tutorials in the Tutorials section, with pictures too!

Glad you like Classic Shell- it's worth playing with the skins and configuration.

I like the way it handles large menus as well as behaving like a compact Win 7 start menu, and the search is so straightforward.

Now, strange that you find no problem with clicking on that, but do elsewhere.

Task manager- just post a screenshot of the window when your PC is nominally idle, or if you observe anything untoward. If there's high resource use then click the appropriate column header to organise high to low.

Just safe mode is fine.

All we're trying to establish at this stage is
- no basic disk problem
- no excessive resource use
- no interfering installed progs
- basic graphics in Safe Mode vs your full driver in normal mode.

Current public build is 969, so you're slightly behind. Not relevant to this.

Sorry for the delay in responding! Everything has been working fine for the last couple of days, computer-wise, so I wanted to take advantage of that and get some work done. But just now, the Start Button decided not to work properly so I had to sign out and in again. That tells me there's still a problem.

When I clicked the Start button just before my last signout, it would display my picture from the top of the right hand column and *only* that. I didn't even get the outline of the rest of the Classic Shell menu. Before that though, everything was working fine when I used the Classic Shell and also when I clicked on the Windows 10 Start Menu: I wasn't getting any cases of the tiles not working in the Win 10 Start Menu. When I chose the Exit option from the Classic Shell, I found that the Win 10 Start Menu tiles were dead again: they didn't get a border when I moused over them, I couldn't click on any tiles, and I couldn't scroll in any of the scrollable menus. I'm guessing that the underlying problem, when it occurs, messes up both Classic Shell and Win 10 Start Menu.

I did run the chkdsk the other night even before I was sure that "good" from CrystalDiskInfo was all we needed to get. But, following the instructions in Leo's article, I was completely unable to find the output in Event Viewer. The instructions haven't been updated for Windows 10 but I opened Event Viewer and went to the log it specified and looked through all the events in the appropriate time frame (late that evening). There were no events of the right category so I looked at each any every one of the events in the right time frame regardless of source, in case the source name had changed. None of them pertained to chkdsk activity, despite the fact that when I issued the chkdsk command, it assured me that it was going to run chkdsk during the restart. I'm a little baffled by what happened to the chkdsk output.

I haven't gone into Safe Mode yet and can't for another couple of hours but I'll try to do that this afternoon. I haven't connected the mouse yet to see if it makes a difference; I'll try that again this afternoon if time permits.

This was just an update to let you know that I still have an issue and that I've started to do the things you requested to set the baseline. Now, I just need some quiet time to work on the remaining tests.