Recent Discussions
Critical Shell/Explorer.exe Boot Loop and Flickering on Recent Windows 11 Insider Build
Hello Windows Insider Team, I am writing to report a critical UI/system stability issue encountered immediately after updating to and restarting the recent Windows 11 Insider build on my machine. Issue Description: Upon finalizing the update and rebooting, the desktop shell entered an infinite crash loop. The Windows background and active windows were flickering/blinking rapidly, and the Start Menu and Taskbar were completely missing/unresponsive. Key Diagnostics: Task Manager Stability: Interestingly, the Task Manager remained completely stable and unaffected by the flickering, confirming the core OS and graphic drivers were functional. Attempted Fixes: Restarting explorer.exe via Task Manager did not resolve the issue. Attempting to delete the IrisService registry key HKCU > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > IrisService only stabilized the Start Menu for a brief moment before the flickering loop resumed. Resolution: The system was only stabilized after bypassing the UI via Task Manager, booting into the Advanced Startup menu, and performing an "Uninstall latest feature update" rollback to the previous working Insider build. I wanted to bring this to your attention as the crash loop completely breaks usability for users hitting this specific flight. Please let me know if you need any specific diagnostic logs from my previous build state to help isolate the bug. Best regards, Suryanarana N
The system interface fails to load a short time after my Windows 10 computer starts up
I bought this computer last year, and this problem has only recently started: shortly after booting up, the system interface fails to load, and the computer occasionally experiences minor lag. I’m looking for an effective solution.All shortcuts in Windows 10 are malfunctioning.
Recently, I noticed that when I open a social media app, the window disappears automatically, but the app continues to run in the background. When I click the shortcut again, it says I’m already logged in, and I have to log out from the mobile app to use it again. Later, I discovered that when I right-click any shortcut and select “Properties,” two windows pop up in succession: one for the application and one for the .exe file. When I close the latter, the system always freezes for a moment, as if File Explorer is restarting. What is causing this, and how can I fix it?Renaming file highlights the extension, as well, which I do not want!
When I go to rename a file and and hit F2, it automatically highlights the entire file name including extension. It changed only recently, because before, it used to highlight all EXCEPT the extension. I do not want the extension included for obvious reasons. Using Win 11.Hello screen and forgotten password
The other day I changed my windows 11 hello login passcode to a password. Unfortunately I saved the new password on my word document with my passwords and saved it. I failed to realise I didn't save it to my one drive where I can also view the word document from my phone using my one drive account. So the new password is saved on my laptop where I can't access it because I can't get through the hello windows login password page. I've accessed account live via my phone and changed the password that way, and been successful. But my laptop wont sync to allow the new changed password. I've read online about trying to delete the NGC file in order to create a new profile login in. But then I read that doing this can also mess up your gomputer. So I did try it anyway before realising it cam mess up your laptop but I hit obstacles along the way so I gave up doing that idea. I read that Microsoft credentials need to be changed. I do have spare laptop if that helps. I googled this now, "if you cannot access your Microsoft account credentials or reset disk, and the above methods fail, the only remaining option is to perform a clean installation of Windows 11." I've tried restarting laptop and trying connected via online and offline to try sync new password to laptop, but it's just not working. Does anyone have any suggestions other than what I've Said. Is it worth my trying to make a reset disk. Although I resluse I should of made one before ages ago, and now it probably won't work. At the moment it seems the only thing left is to do a clean installation of windows. Can anyone offer any assistance and hekp please? I've a Dell inspirion 5570 ic3 core. Thank you.Unable to install Java on Windows 11
Hello, I'm attempting to install the Java runtime environment on Windows 11 home, but the installer throws a "error code 1603" message every time it runs. I've downloaded both the offline and online installers, changed Windows UAC settings, run the installers as administrator, looked for any old Java installations (I didn't find anything), all to no avail, so I was hoping someone had some ideas to get this to work. I did have a similar issue about three years ago (with Win10), which was resolved by running the Windows Program install and uninstall troubleshooter, but that has apparently been depreciated, and isn't available.What to do if Mac says disk is full?
Hi everyone, I've been getting a warning on my Mac saying that my disk is almost full, and it's starting to cause real problems. Apps are freezing, everything feels sluggish, and I even got a pop-up saying I don't have enough storage to perform certain actions. I'm not very experienced with Macs so I'm not sure where to start or what's safe to delete. What to do if Mac says disk is full? The first things I should check or delete to free up space safely? By the way, is there a built-in macOS tool to see what's taking up the most space?What is the fastest way to export all photos from my iPhone to pc?
I have a huge number of photos on my iPhone that I need to transfer to my Windows PC, and I'm getting really frustrated with how long it's taking. I've already tried two methods and neither is working well for me: Bluetooth: Incredibly slow. Transferring hundreds of photos this way would take forever. Cloud storage :Also too slow — uploading and then downloading everything takes way too long, and I don't want to rely on internet speed for this. I just need a fast, reliable way to dump everything onto my PC as quickly as possible. What's the fastest method to export all photos from my iphone to pc? I've heard USB cable might be the way to go but I'm not sure how to set it up properly. Are there any other fast options I'm missing? ThanksCannot log on to windows after motherboard change
A Dell technician replaced my motherboard today. After the replacement, turning on the computer led to the BIOS being flashed. Upon rebooting, the lock screen appeared. After dismissing it, the logon screen shows my name, my Microsoft account with my picture and a message "Your PIN is no longer available due to a change to the security settings on this device. Click to set up your PIN again." There is an option to click on for Set up my PIN. When I click on this it goes back to the lock screen. This is a Dell XPS-8960 Intel core i9 with 32 cores and 64 GB of memory running Windows 11 Pro 23H2 with all updates installed.
Windows 11 Tablet Mode Concept
I'll explain my thinking behind tablet mode: I used to use a Windows 2-in-1 running Windows 10 and Windows 11, and whenever I used it as a tablet, I often switched to Tablet Mode. Then I switched to a MacBook and iPadOS and used them for several years. The main things that made me feel like I was using a proper tablet mode were the lack of a taskbar, the absence of window controls and headers, and the ability to open apps with a single tap instead of a double-click like on Windows Desktop. When I looked through feedback in the Feedback Hub about Tablet Mode, I found that many users shared the same opinion. On touch-friendly devices, features like Control Center, Notifications, and app access are typically handled through swipe gestures. On Windows, however, I find the current gestures confusing. A single swipe from the left opens the Widgets panel, a swipe from the bottom opens the Start panel, and a swipe from the right opens Click-to-Do. You can open the Action Center with a swipe up from the right corner, but to open the Notification Center, you have to tap the Time & Date area. This is far more confusing than iPadOS, Android, or iOS, especially for users who switch between those ecosystems. Since Windows 11 no longer has a dedicated Tablet Mode, users don’t really have expectations for how it should behave. But I wanted the behavior to stay consistent between Desktop and Tablet modes. I also wanted to hide the taskbar, because that was the most frustrating part for me when using Windows as a tablet — I often felt like I would accidentally trigger Start, Widgets, Search, Action Center, or Notifications by touching the taskbar. At the same time, users still need quick access to those features. So in my design, swiping from the left side of the screen gives users access to the Start Panel, which includes Apps, Search, Widgets, and Notifications. The Start button appears at the top-left as a signifier to teach users that gesture. If the user wants to open the Action Center, they can swipe once from the right side of the screen. Swiping again opens Copilot. Users who prefer tapping can still use buttons instead of gestures. This approach means users don’t have to learn anything new — it’s the same taskbar behavior, just repositioned at the top. Desktop users don’t need to change anything, but users who want a true Tablet Mode can access all the same functions easily while keeping the taskbar hidden. Designing Tablet Mode to resemble the Xbox UI also helps users who play on Xbox or use Windows handhelds feel at home when using Tablet Mode on Windows.
Help with cpu running at 50% all the time
I have a laptop running windows xp sp3 and after it starts up it will run between 50% and 70%. The program doing it is called CSRSS.EXE. I tried to stop it and i can't because windows tell me it can't be stop. I ran my antivirus and malware program and they can't find anything on my computer. Does anybody know how to stop it from running and using up all my cpu. My poor fan keeps running on high all the time. Funny thing is it didn't do this until i installed SP3 from microsoft. It won't start using high cpu until 5 minutes goes by then the cpu fan slow gets going faster. Hoping for someone that ran into this before and know how to stop it, Thanks for the help.In Windows 10, the browser sidebar and top bar remain on the desktop after closing the browser
After closing the browser, images of the sidebar and top bar remain on the desktop, but these residual images cannot be clicked or interacted with. What is causing this? How can I remove these residual images?After renaming my computer in Windows 10, I can't find it in Network Sharing
Before I renamed my computer, network sharing was working fine, and other devices could access it. After renaming it, the computer can no longer be found on the local network, and it remains undetectable even after I changed the name back to the original one. What could be causing this? How can I restore sharing?Windows 10 often plays unfamiliar notification sounds without any prompts
Lately, my computer has been occasionally emitting a notification sound I’ve never heard before, but there are no pop-up windows on the screen, and there are no new messages in the notification center. I’m wondering if Windows has a feature, similar to Android, that lets me see which program recently made the sound or sent the notification so I can identify the source.How to measure time it takes to open an email in Outlook
Hopefully not a silly question... How can I accurately measure the time it takes to open an email in Outlook (Classic)? i.e. from me double clicking the email in the Inbox to the email Window finally opening? Is there like an event timer utility that can hook into certain OS/App events (e.g. double click and window open) that can measure the time (e.g. in milliseconds) in between or something? I appreciate it's somewhere between 1-2 seconds on my lowly i7-6700K Windows 10 PC, but I want to get a more accurate number. The idea being I then want to time it on a faster machine - e.g. an i3-14100 or even an i5-14400 for comparison purposes.
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Get answers to your questions about adopting Windows 11 and managing Windows devices across your organization. Find out how to proactively implement and monitor Zero Trust practices. Get tips on keep...
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Get answers to your questions about adopting Windows 11 and managing Windows devices across your organization. Find out how to proactively implement and monitor Zero Trust practices. Get tips on keep...
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