Mse Hangs, Windows Explorer Halts, And More...

Time for a new thread. I did ll the READ & RUN protocol, and just finished scouring my desktop for malware and cleaning up junk with the kind help of TimW. He sees no malware and refers me to this Software section.

I can do without the sleep function, yet the constant Windows Explorer (and sometimes other program) hangs is driving me batty. I don't know if MSE is even working.

I tried to uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials, then re-install it, but that failed miserably. I had to use a System Restore to go back in time to get MSE back. MSE is not behaving. I have tried to scan just one drive and find that the display window stops showing what is being scanned, and the elapsed time clock freezes. Cancel scan does or does not work either from the dialog window or the taskbar. Closing the dialog window closes the window, but the "scanning" indicator in the taskbar keeps winding on and on. Eventually it disappears and MSE is no longer anywhere to be seen - I can't get it going again. I can get multiple instances of msseces.exe to run (seen in Process Explorer) ending MsMpEng.exe is not possible (probably by design).

Here's a fascinating list to review while I go try other things like messing with my startups with msconfig, or CCleaner:

Problems

Lost “Sleep” function months ago - I can live with that, although I miss it.

Windows Explorer hangs (goes grey, “look for solutions” restores function) – start date unknown: a month? two? and has gotten steadily worse.

Chrome, MSE, others hang – some can be brought back, some can’t – MUCH worse recently

MSE hanging during scan. Display freezes yet Resource Monitor / Task Manager looks like it’s still running. Ended process but can’t get MSE running again without restart. – problem started a few days ago

The rest of these notes are from the last 24-36 hours.

MSE hang when chrome opened – related or not unknown

Disastrous failed attempt at uninstalling, then re-installing MSE

Went back in time with System Restore to get MSE back.

Revo (advanced) Uninstaller failed to uninstall Dropbox,. I let it do as much as possible (registry, etc) then removed all “dropbox” anything manually

I did let CCleaner scour the registry for fixes.

'Repair My Computer' is not displayed with the F8 start. Windows asks for installation disc (that I don't have) and I don't know if the upgrade disc will do it.
(Status 0xc000000e Info: boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.)

If it's of any help HERE is a link to the malware search ad junk cleanup

I need this fixed and I need it NOW - lol? (obviously). I had a life, once, I think.

Help?

TIA

 

Please see attached. Are these unusual characters of any relevance?

Also, I am beginning to suspect that MSE hangs when I am multitasking.

Can't Windows tell us what's wrong with Windows?

Is there any such thing as too many icons on a desktop?
I've about 100 and some are folders with more inside.

 

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/tweaking_com_windows_repair_portable.html
The above software has come to my aid in the past with permissions, registry, and aspects of the OS that have been borked by malware. Go by the book as the software suggests. I have the Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 iso's because they were once available through digitalriver. With a product key and an iso a reinstall should be plausible, but have never personally done so on an upgraded Microsoft OS. Back up your system as soon as plausible, there is freeware that works, you just need a place to store the file.

 

Thanks, Bug,

I have plenty of space to store any file maybe 3 TB - lo. And, TimW and I went through the Tweaking.com routines as one aspect of the junk cleanup. I still have problems. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

drcarl - I've had over 120 icons on the desktop including whole folders and folders full of shortcuts and others. That in itself doesn't cause any problems. I'm that way now on 8.1 ~130 items. Just with these on the desktop I keep copies in other places in case of corruption of the desktop. I've been seeing your thread(s). While not a malware tech myself, I see Tim has checked you.
Just my thoughts- in a similar situation I have gone through everything on my pc and uninstalled and deleted everything in Control Panel and also in Program Folders and even in the root directory of the c: drive that was common in tine to when the problem started. And even things I figured was no longer wanted or needed. After that re-setted browsers to default condition.
Once things got cleared up I then re-download/install those things from the time period involved that I really wanted or needed one at a time and waited to see how the system re-acted.

When in some cases it didn't solve the problems - then it's time to backup all created data and look to redo everything. Remember that if it's a software it's always on the Internet. If it's something you created ( wrote,, pictures,, music,, video or whatever) then make a copy.

 

UPDATE/MORE INFO: When closing Chrome Browser hangs, I now often see “cancel download?” even though I finished downloading ages ago. Others have had this problem, too. Chrome is not recognizing that downloads have completed. No more 10-30 tabs open for me since I might have to hit 'em with an 'end task' or something.

====================================================

Imandy, thanks. I have seen conflicting about the many desktop icons thing. I believe that with enough RAM, a quad core processor, and others like you who have no problems, well...it's nice to hear some validation/confirmation.

The thought of doing what you mentioned, however realistic, is really depressing. I lost perhaps 100+ speed dials with the cleanout process. The good news is that I've installed a better speed dial program. The bad news is that it'd take DAYS to get everything back in. That was just one teeny thing: Speed Dials. I should probably go back to using the built-in menu system - hahahaha.

??? With Windows 10 right around the corner, (you know it'seven available now), I really seriously and sincerely (you know, like "truly"?) wonder if the problem(s) get migrated with the upgrade, or get left behind ??? I follow Woody Leonhard's (and many other's) advice to delay upgrading until the quick-to-install-chumps find out what's wrong and MS has a chance to fix it.

I've had complete and total crashes before and have been VERY lucky to still have copies of some older data. (I'm a photographer, music-lover, Dr and research freak). Having amassed so much I did finally invest in a proper backup and giant 5TB drive to hold things. You're right that data can be copied, and programs that are actually used installed. Did it before and can do it again. I sure don't want to.

Thanks for the kind thoughts. I am still hoping for an answer, from here or from the interwebs.

Best,

DrCarl

 

SOLVED: All is well with a new Power Supply! The borkedness went away and the sleep function returned. Now on to the new SSD and the upgrade to W10

 

Glad to hear you fixed it drcarl! And just in time too. One more week for the Win 10. I remember some of the specs of you comp and I'm sure you're glad to get it back proper again. Congrats!