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#1
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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