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strange startup



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 13th 16, 12:48 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
mick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 280
Default strange startup

My wife started up her win 7 computer today and to a strange (default?)
desktop.

Normally the desktop has a personal background photo, about 30 program
icons arranged in numerous blocks over the whole desktop. On the left
hand side of the task bar are 8 icons with populated jump lists and on
the right hand side 6 start up icons displayed.

When the desktop appeared at first start up the background photo had
gone the icons where arranged in vertical columns at the left side of
the screen, the icons on the left side of the task bar had disappeared
and those on the right had been grouped in a hidden box.

On seeing the computer like that I just did a reboot and everything has
gone back to her normal personalised display.

We have good security, there have been no windows updates installed,
nothing done since switching off the day before. I have run some
anti-malware and nothing shows up. She did say that it took longer
than normal to boot when she switched on today so I googled for info
and the conclusion I came to was that it just defaulted to the windows
7 desktop display on that one occasion, but why?

The only other thing which I can see that may not be normal are some
hidden folders
C:\Users\TEMP\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER
C:\Users\TEMP\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetU rlCache
These folders where created today. There are no files in these
folders.

I have done a further two complete power off shutdowns and there has
been no problem with displaying her personalised desktop.

--
mick
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  #2  
Old December 13th 16, 01:54 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default strange startup

mick wrote:
My wife started up her win 7 computer today and to a strange (default?)
desktop.

Normally the desktop has a personal background photo, about 30 program
icons arranged in numerous blocks over the whole desktop. On the left
hand side of the task bar are 8 icons with populated jump lists and on
the right hand side 6 start up icons displayed.

When the desktop appeared at first start up the background photo had
gone the icons where arranged in vertical columns at the left side of
the screen, the icons on the left side of the task bar had disappeared
and those on the right had been grouped in a hidden box.

On seeing the computer like that I just did a reboot and everything has
gone back to her normal personalised display.

We have good security, there have been no windows updates installed,
nothing done since switching off the day before. I have run some
anti-malware and nothing shows up. She did say that it took longer than
normal to boot when she switched on today so I googled for info and the
conclusion I came to was that it just defaulted to the windows 7 desktop
display on that one occasion, but why?

The only other thing which I can see that may not be normal are some
hidden folders
C:\Users\TEMP\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER
C:\Users\TEMP\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetU rlCache
These folders where created today. There are no files in these folders.

I have done a further two complete power off shutdowns and there has
been no problem with displaying her personalised desktop.


So it started with some user profile other than the normal one ?

Is the account of your wife actually "TEMP" ?

If you run chkdsk with the boxes unticked, what does it report ?

Generally, I would expect fully defined accounts to
have storage assigned under C:\users. TrustedInstaller
shouldn't have storage space for example, as it's not
a full account, just a token of sorts.

You might want to run a memory test and a disk test,
to see if the hardware on the platform is robust.
The download files are 50% down the page. One complete
pass of memtest, with no errors, is recommended. For
disk testing, at least read out the SMART and check
that the Reallocated sector count raw data field is equal to zero.
Both Seagate and WDC have disk diagnostics, that tan
do things like run the "short test", which you can use
to build your confidence in the disk drive.

http://www.memtest.org/

You might also check Event Viewer, and see if the OS
crashed on shutdown. That can happen some times. While
fooling around with a new Bluetooth dongle in Win10
the other day, the OS crashed on shutdown
(a "power state" BSOD Stop code). Eventvwr.msc
should have details, if so.

Paul
  #3  
Old December 13th 16, 11:49 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
mick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 280
Default strange startup

On 13/12/2016 12:54:48, Paul wrote:
mick wrote:
My wife started up her win 7 computer today and to a strange (default?)
desktop.

Normally the desktop has a personal background photo, about 30 program
icons arranged in numerous blocks over the whole desktop. On the left hand
side of the task bar are 8 icons with populated jump lists and on the right
hand side 6 start up icons displayed.

When the desktop appeared at first start up the background photo had gone
the icons where arranged in vertical columns at the left side of the
screen, the icons on the left side of the task bar had disappeared and
those on the right had been grouped in a hidden box.

On seeing the computer like that I just did a reboot and everything has
gone back to her normal personalised display.

We have good security, there have been no windows updates installed,
nothing done since switching off the day before. I have run some
anti-malware and nothing shows up. She did say that it took longer than
normal to boot when she switched on today so I googled for info and the
conclusion I came to was that it just defaulted to the windows 7 desktop
display on that one occasion, but why?

The only other thing which I can see that may not be normal are some hidden
folders
C:\Users\TEMP\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER
C:\Users\TEMP\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetU rlCache
These folders where created today. There are no files in these folders.

I have done a further two complete power off shutdowns and there has been
no problem with displaying her personalised desktop.


So it started with some user profile other than the normal one ?


She says all she did was switch on, entered her user password, went off
to do something else then came back and found the displayed desktop
different, did not do anything until I saw it.

Is the account of your wife actually "TEMP" ?


No, there is Default, Wife's Name(Admin), Public and TEMP in the Users
folder.

If you run chkdsk with the boxes unticked, what does it report ?


No problems.

Generally, I would expect fully defined accounts to
have storage assigned under C:\users. TrustedInstaller
shouldn't have storage space for example, as it's not
a full account, just a token of sorts.

You might want to run a memory test and a disk test,
to see if the hardware on the platform is robust.
The download files are 50% down the page. One complete
pass of memtest, with no errors, is recommended. For
disk testing, at least read out the SMART and check
that the Reallocated sector count raw data field is equal to zero.
Both Seagate and WDC have disk diagnostics, that tan
do things like run the "short test", which you can use
to build your confidence in the disk drive.

http://www.memtest.org/


All seems ok here.

You might also check Event Viewer, and see if the OS
crashed on shutdown. That can happen some times.


Yes, there were 4 errors in succession in the User Profile Service.

1. Windows was unable to load the registry.
DETAIL: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by
another process for C:\Users\Wife's Name\ntuser.dat

2. Windows cannot load the locally stored profile
DETAIL: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by
another process.

3. Windows has backed up this user profile.

4. Windows cannot find the local profile and is logging you on with a
temporary profile. Changes you make to this profile will be lost when
you log off.


To me that seems to be where the problem was. It explains why there is
a TEMP folder in Users with no files as they would have been deleted
when I did a reboot.

The computer has been shut down and switched on another three times
since I first posted and there has not been a problem. :-)

--
mick
  #4  
Old December 14th 16, 12:56 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default strange startup

mick wrote:


The computer has been shut down and switched on another three times
since I first posted and there has not been a problem. :-)


I would recommend the disk diagnostic.

Use Device Manager to see the disk identification,
then go to the manufacturer site for the disk and
get the diagnostic.

It's either that, or if you don't like to test stuff,
you can always bump up the frequency of disk backups
for a few months, as "insurance" :-)

Paul
  #5  
Old December 14th 16, 01:25 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
mick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 280
Default strange startup

On 13/12/2016 23:56:20, Paul wrote:
mick wrote:


The computer has been shut down and switched on another three times since I
first posted and there has not been a problem. :-)


I would recommend the disk diagnostic.

Use Device Manager to see the disk identification,
then go to the manufacturer site for the disk and
get the diagnostic.

It's either that, or if you don't like to test stuff,
you can always bump up the frequency of disk backups
for a few months, as "insurance" :-)

Paul


Thanks for the help Paul. I will do some more testing of the disk.
Personal files are synced every couple of days to an external drive,
images of the 'c' drive once a month, so if the drive does suddenly go
pop I would not be duly worried.

--
mick
  #6  
Old December 14th 16, 04:06 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul in Houston TX[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 999
Default strange startup

mick wrote:
My wife started up her win 7 computer today and to a strange (default?) desktop.


Laptop or floor model?
How long was it powered off?


  #7  
Old December 14th 16, 02:51 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
mick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 280
Default strange startup

On 14/12/2016 03:06:57, Paul in Houston TX wrote:
mick wrote:
My wife started up her win 7 computer today and to a strange (default?)
desktop.


Laptop or floor model?


Desktop

How long was it powered off?


2 days

--
mick
  #8  
Old December 15th 16, 12:44 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul in Houston TX[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 999
Default strange startup

mick wrote:
On 14/12/2016 03:06:57, Paul in Houston TX wrote:
mick wrote:
My wife started up her win 7 computer today and to a strange (default?) desktop.


Laptop or floor model?


Desktop

How long was it powered off?


2 days


In addition to Paul Nospam's suggestions you might want to reseat every cable
and the ram. My floor model tends to do almost the same thing when not turned
on for a few days.
I attribute it to corrosion build up on the plug and seat contacts.

  #9  
Old December 15th 16, 01:45 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
mick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 280
Default strange startup

On 14/12/2016 23:44:03, Paul in Houston TX wrote:
mick wrote:
On 14/12/2016 03:06:57, Paul in Houston TX wrote:
mick wrote:
My wife started up her win 7 computer today and to a strange (default?)
desktop.

Laptop or floor model?


Desktop

How long was it powered off?


2 days


In addition to Paul Nospam's suggestions you might want to reseat every cable
and the ram. My floor model tends to do almost the same thing when not
turned
on for a few days.
I attribute it to corrosion build up on the plug and seat contacts.


Thanks for pointing to something else to look at.

--
mick
 




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