Alek wrote:
Rabid Roach wrote on 4/6/2020 8:21 PM:
On 2020-04-06 7:37 p.m., Alek wrote:
My Win10 desktop is frozen!

The desktop has all the icons it is supposed to have but clicking on any
one of them does nothing.

The taskbar has the Windows Start icon at one end and the date/time
thing at the other end.

Again clicking does nothing.

Aha! I see a stationary hourglass next to the pointer.

crtl-sh-esc is ignored.

ctrl-alt=delete brings up the expected menu.

I have everything backed up. What should I do????????????????????

Thanks/
Force restart by holding the power button down.

You're suggesting that a restart will solve my prolem(s)?

Yes, because some of these problems are caused by an "in-flight"
Windows Update which has broken one or more services (SVCHOST)
on the machine. Finishing a restart when requested, helps
clean up stuff like that.

The OS seems to be acquiring more curve balls as it ages.
For example, some Windows Update items, restart twice, one boot
cycle using a temporary profile rather than the regular
user account. Now, if you somehow managed to *stay* on
that temporary profile, all hell breaks loose.

Why Microsoft is doing some of these things, is unclear.
At one time, the design of Windows Update attempted to be
"bulletproof", by placing files needing changes in PendMoves
and flushing the stuff at shutdown/restart. Rather than
breaking things while the OS was still running.

I suspect some part of your OS was broken, while it was running.

And normally, multiple restarts cleans these up (on the assumption
that a Windows Update came in).

And while I could offer advice such as "check Windows Update
once in a while", that is *not* design intent! You're supposed
to be able to use this crap, like you were a human and not
a tech bro. Consequently, I will not be telling you that.
Being a nervous nellie is not the answer.

Paul