A couple weeks ago my installation of Windows 10 began to suffer from some serious problems. Most noticeably the Windows store simply would not launch. It happened right after I did a cleanup cycle (uninstalling software I don't use anymore, cleaning temp folders, running CCleaner, etc etc)
I did a lot of research and troubleshooting online before I gave up at did a full Windows 10 reset, which set everything right.
Last night it broke again and it was immediately after I ran CCleaner. (after updating to the latest portable build 5.12.5431) I did the following CCleaner Functions:
- Did a clean. The only two "advanced" functions I have checked are "Old Prefetch Data" and "Menu Order Cacher"
- Cleaned the registry twice (I didn't notice anything unusual in the list)
- Uninstalled a couple of Metro/Modern apps from the Uninstall function, such as Bing Sports, 3d Builder and one or two other things. (I *think* I did this last time things broke, and I *think* this is the only two times I've done that so I suspect this is the most likely cause.)
My symptoms this time were: (in order they happened)
- When I restarted my computer the cursor was flashing, and rapidly stealing focus of any Window I was on. Typing was nearly impossible.
- I launched Sysinternals ProcessExplorer and saw that it was a Skype related application that was rapidly starting/crashing over and over (ie new process ID every time)
- I managed to Launch CCleaner and use the uninstall function to remove "Messaging and Skype" application.
- Everything thing was fine and now I noticed the other symptoms
- Start Menu would not open
- Windows Store would not launch
- Problems connecting to resources on the local network (file sharing)
Going to do another reset tonight, and it will be a long time before/if I ever run CCleaner again, but I figured I'd post this here if it helps anyone else.