The machine is working, but the interface has stopped responding. It is a display incident, and almost always fixable in a few minutes.
Set your mind at rest straight away : neither your files nor your programs are involved. It is the component that draws the desktop, the taskbar and the Start menu that has stopped - and it can be restarted.
This is the step that settles most cases, and it carries no risk.
The screen flickers for a second, the taskbar disappears then comes back. The menu responds again in most cases.
If Explorer is not enough, a full restart settles almost everything else. Watch out for a frequent trap : Windows fast startup means a "shut down" is not a true restart. Use Restart, not Shut down followed by switching back on.
With no access to the menu, the Ctrl + Alt + Del shortcut gives you the power button at the bottom right of the screen.
This kind of malfunction often follows a partly installed update. An update waiting for a restart sometimes leaves the interface in an unstable state. Install whatever is pending and restart.
If the problem comes back at every startup, system files are probably damaged. Windows has built-in check and repair tools, to be run from a command prompt opened as administrator. The operation takes about twenty minutes and does not touch your documents.
When the problem persists in spite of everything, it is often confined to your profile rather than the system. Creating a new administrator account checks that immediately : if the menu works in that new account, the original profile is corrupted. Documents then transfer across without difficulty.
If the desktop icons have vanished, check one discreet setting before anything else : right-click the desktop, View, and the Show desktop icons option. It gets unticked by accident, and causes a fine scare over nothing.
An isolated incident means nothing. If, on the other hand, the interface freezes several times a day along with general slowness, look further : a drive near the end of its life, memory under pressure, or an infection. See computer freezing and slow computer.
This kind of repair is handled very well remotely as long as the machine starts : we take over, repair the system and check there is no deeper cause behind it.
No, it is a safe operation. It only restarts the graphical interface. Simply save any open documents first, as a precaution.
It indicates damaged system files or a corrupted user profile. It is not serious for your data, but it calls for a thorough repair.
Rarely. Repairing the system files or creating a new profile settles almost every case without a reinstall.
Would you rather we took care of it ? See our computer repair at home service, in Lyon and across the Rhone.
Most of these repairs are done remotely, in under an hour.
Automatic assistant: it can make mistakes. Never share a password or a card number.
