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Don't know what has happened but clicking on or pressing the Windows key doesn't pop open the apps menu, similarly clicking on the status bar speaker icon(or any of them) doesn't pop up the volume slider, I did have the usual Windows updates failure this morning where it tries to apply the updates,fails, and then undoes updates . Anyone had this ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
modified 15hrs ago.
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Sounds like Windows Explorer in Zombie Mode.
The solution is to kill the explorer.exe process via Task Manager.
Windows explorer should restart automatically. If not, <Windows key> + <R> (Run) should help.
I did not have issues with the latest Windows updates.
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Thanks for your reply, explorer.exe is not shown in Task Manager but I started it from run - no change I'm afraid
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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There need to be an Explorer in Taskmanager, Tab Details.
Close all programs, including all visible explorers.
Kill the explorer in Taskmanager->Details. If you kill it desktop disapears and you get a blank screen.
Type Ctrl&Alt&Delete and choose 'Taskmanager'
In Taskmanager choose 'File -> Run new task', type in explorer to run explorer.
Desktop should now be back.
modified 15hrs ago.
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Hi there thanks for your reply, I did everything you suggested but the situation is the same Windows key not working and status bar icons not responding
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Could the key be broken? After my last laptop got long in the tooth, its ZXCV keys pretty much stopped working!
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Hi Greg, that wouldn't explain why the mouse click and hover is also not working - everything was cool until the update
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I guess you can tell who merely reacted to the first symptom in your post. 
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In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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CAN YOU ROLL OS BACK TO LAST WORKING COPY?
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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What, back to the days when "Terminal" meant KSR-33?
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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KSR-33? Way back machine in high gear.
advanced recovery tools or least the latest version
One of the first terminals I used.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
modified 2hrs 15mins ago.
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Has it EVER fixed anything?
Every time I've been prompted due to some network issue to run windows network diagnostics, it has NEVER, EVER found a problem or fixed anything. This morning, it just errored out with some random code.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I'd amend your title to "Windows Troubleshooters" in general. And also throw in sfc and dism.
They're the go-to answer for everything in the MS support forums. But I've never seem them fix a problem. 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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I stand corrected. Seems to be a placebo.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I wouldn't lump dism into this category.
This has always been my go-to solution whenever I needed to install .NET 2.0/3.5 on OSes that don't include it by default, and the installer fails (which I'm not sure ever worked for me). But this always succeeds:
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:E:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess
(replace E: with the appropriate ISO mount drive, D: turned into a smiley...)
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The name says it all. Diagnostics not repair. Now, do the thing actually diagnose anything?
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
I’m begging you for the benefit of everyone, don’t be STUPID.
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Useful when customer is watching. Gives one time to figure out the real problem.
>64
It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.
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It's almost like an idiot cartoon to entertain....
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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No Windows diagnostic has ever identified anything for me. On top of that, in Events Viewer, each error code has a link to click for more information. Not once has that ever returned any explanation.
Will Rogers never met me.
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I've never had any Windows troubleshooter fix anything, except for the most extremely simple problems that are quicker to manually fix anyway.
Same with System Restore. I had it successfully recover a relative's botched update - once - where Vista (to give you an idea of the timeframe) was stuck in a reboot loop. Rolled it back, reinstalled the update, and everything was fine. But I always have it disabled on my own systems, as I've never had a single use for it.
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I posted this at reddit, but then I remembered that the real hardware experts hang around CodeProject (yes, the flattery is intentional so that I get good information).
NOTE: What I call an "extension cable" is a cable with 1 male end and 1 female end, with the ends being the standard big USB port.
I had bought a pair of no-name extension cables from Amazon, and then when I tried to use them with a GameDoc Ultra video-capture box, neither of them worked - and so now I am looking for a brand that I can get at Amazon that will work. Or is it that the signal from the video-capture box gets too attenuated (this cable was 10-feet), and thus I need some sort of boost device, etc.? I just want to be able to keep my computer on a table that happens to be that far from the video-capture box & console (XBox360 - yes, I understand that it's "vintage").
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did you try the cable with an actual PC? Some non-PC devices are strange, as in, your mileage may vary.
Sounds like you are using a type A extension - USB 2.0. I've used these for a long time for work and had no issues. The spec says 25 meters is the max, but I'd not go that far  . 10 ft is nothing. Are BOTH cables from the same maker? If they won't work with a PC, they will not work with a random box. You would be amazed about all sorts of magic done in hardware and embedded software that is just elephanted up. Right code witch?
I know this might shock a lot of you (tongue in cheek), but Amazon does zero QC on the crap, excuse me, products they peddle. They just could not give a <insert appropriate="" phrase="" here="">. The prices are sometimes so cheap, people just don't bother with the return and trash them. Go out to newegg. They have better QC.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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Check into what level USB your device uses. There are multiple levels of USB; identify by using the color of the plastic piece inside as a guide. White or black indicates a USB1 or 2 device, blue is USB 3.0, and red USB 3.1 - Generally, that is. Not all mfrs follow the rules. I just learned this myself, and had to look it up to figure out why my cursor froze when I plugged in a 3.0 thumb drive. I was baffled, because I purposely built this PC to have a few 3.0 ports. Then I looked into the USB hub I'd plugged the device into and noticed that it only could support USB 2. Grrrr...
Will Rogers never met me.
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