Finding reliable data recovery tools for Windows
Hello everyone, I want to find at least 2 reliable data recovery tools for Windows to recover all files in the disk image (excluding the Windows File Recovery from Microsoft), then hopefully you can compare the effectiveness of the tools and the ease of use. Thank you very much.
Windows 11 24H2 (Build 26100.6899) (KB5066835) — Apps freeze when accessing camera or microphone
Windows 11 24H2 (Build 26100.6899) (KB5066835) — Apps freeze when accessing camera or microphone After installing the update 2025-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5066835) (26100.6899), multiple applications as well as the Settings app experience freezes or crashes seemingly whenever Windows attempts to enumerate audio/video devices or query app permissions. Even just opening the Google login page in Brave or Chrome freezes the browser, for example. (Interestingly, Edge does not freeze on the same page.) The issue appears to originate in the Capability Access Manager Service (camsvc), which deadlocks when handling capability access requests. How to reproduce Install Windows 11 Version 24H2 Build 26100.6899 with KB5066835. Open Settings → Privacy & security → App permissions → Camera (or Location or Microphone or pretty much any other page). → The Settings app immediately freezes. Launch any application that requests camera or microphone access (e.g., Brave, Chrome, Slack). → The app freezes or crashes. Note: Edge shows no camera or microphone devices but does not crash. Observed result The Settings app becomes unresponsive on any App permissions page. Many applications that attempt to access the camera or microphone (or presumably any device or service that queries app permissions) freeze or crash. Chrome and Brave freeze on login pages requiring Google account access (presumably camera/microphone enumeration triggers the freeze). Edge simply reports no devices found. Expected result Duh. Applications and the Settings app should enumerate camera and microphone devices normally without freezing or crashing. Workaround Disabling the Capability Access Manager Service (camsvc) via the registry or Services.msc (and stopping the service or rebooting) restores system stability and prevents all freezes and crashes: reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\camsvc" /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\camsvc" /v DelayedAutoStart /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f However: Applications cannot access the camera or microphone. All App permissions pages in Settings remain non-functional. Attempted troubleshooting Ran full DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image check & repair sequence followed by SFC /SCANNOW. → No effect. Issue persists across reboots. Problem (kind of) resolves only when Capability Access Manager Service (camsvc) is not running. Extensive chatting with GPT-5 in ChatGPT. Despite some hallucination, my AI buddy has been quite helpful. My system details Edition: Windows 11 Pro 24H2 Build: 26100.6899 Installed update: KB5066835 Other updates installed at the same time: KB5066131 (.NET 3.5/4.8.1), KB5068331 (.NET 8.0.21) Summary This appears to be a regression in KB5066835 affecting the Capability Access Manager subsystem. It causes deadlocks whenever capability enumeration APIs are invoked. Disabling the service stabilizes the system but at the cost of access to devices and services. A hotfix or updated cumulative patch is needed to restore normal functionality.
Unexplained disappearance of uninstallers from C:\Windows\Installer
Hello, I’m reaching out here after several unsuccessful searches on this issue. For about three years, I’ve been regularly noticing on several Windows computers in my organization (around 600 machines) the unexplained disappearance of uninstallers located in C:\Windows\Installer. This affects around twenty random machines per year, involving various software such as Google Chrome, Zoom, PDFsam, Anaconda, Thunderbird, and others. For example, today two PCs can no longer update Google Chrome because the original uninstaller executable has vanished. As a result, the program cannot be updated, repaired, or uninstalled normally. The only workaround I’ve found so far is to manually remove all related registry keys and folders using a tool like Revo Uninstaller, then perform a clean reinstallation. I haven’t found any trace of errors in the antivirus logs or the Windows Event Viewer. I also don’t use any specific tools or GPO that could be cleaning these files automatically. Has anyone encountered this issue before? Could it be caused by a specific service, scheduled task, or any automatic cleanup feature in Windows? Or is there a known way to prevent uninstallers from disappearing? Thanks in advance for any insights or suggestions.
Windows Defender Service Crashing with 0xc0000374 on Windows 11 24H2 Lenovo X13 Laptops
Environment: Devices: Lenovo ThinkPad X13 laptops OS: Windows 11 24H2 Management: Microsoft Intune/Entra ID managed Started: Approximately 1 month ago Symptoms: Intermittent system freezing - devices become unresponsive requiring hard reboot Windows Defender service stops and cannot be restarted manually Event Viewer errors: Event ID 7031 (Service Control Manager): "The Microsoft Defender Antivirus Service service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 7 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 60000 milliseconds: Restart the service." Application Error Event ID 1000: MsMpEng.exe crashing with exception code 0xc0000374 (heap corruption) Pattern: Issue affects devices from only 1 of multiple Intune/Defender tenants we manage Not all X13 laptops affected - only random subset Other tenants with identical hardware models not experiencing issues Started approximately 1 month ago across multiple devices Current Status: MsMpEng.exe keeps crashing repeatedly Real-time protection cannot stay running Service recovery attempts fail Has anyone else experienced this specific error on 24H2? Any known issues with recent Defender platform/definition updates causing heap corruption?
Microsoft App Store issue
So, I went to log into the Microsoft App Store and download windows defender and it asked for my pin and it worked but then it asked for a code that it sent to an email I didn’t recognize. It was like S****@163.com and I know that email is not mine. I’m not sure what to do. I know a whole back I had malware on my pc and I cleaned it out but it seems there is leftover issues. Long story short I now can’t download anything off the App Store and want to figure out how to get that email off. please and thank you for any help.
Start menu disappearing after a few second or before if clicked on
Had the problem as above after years without anything significant. Right click menu on the start button continued to work just fine as did everything else as far as I could tell. Logs showed nothing useful (to me). I tried searching on here with no success but I will admit that's probably my fault. Anyway, I remembered some posts suggesting repair update as a solution for some problems so I did the using WU but nothing changed so in the end I just restored the C: drive from a Macrium backup and that sorted it but I'm left wondering what caused it. It wasn't after an update and I hadn't done anything that might have caused it. I was surprised the repair didn't correct it so I'm wondering what was different in the full restore that sorted a system problem.Windows Explorer preview pane not showing PDF previews
I have raised this issue with Adobe on their forum. I am unable to view previews of adobe PDF documents in the preview pane in Windows Explorer on my computer (i.e. local drive or network drive) unless it is via my OneDrive folder. When trying to view files on WE that are on local or network drives, the preview plane is blank and contains no error message or warning. I have tried the solutions posed in the Adobe forum - none of these have worked. I have tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling - again this has not worked. I refered it to my IT department who tried to edit the registry and use apps such as PowerTools - again this has not worked. Not sure why this has occured as randomly one day it just stopped working. Are there any solutions that actually work for this?
The Thirsty Crow Story in the usa and uk
Once upon a time, a crow was very thirsty, the crow was wandering here and there in search of water but he could not see any source of water anywhere. After wandering here and there for a long time, the crow sat on a tree to rest for some time. A little distance from the tree, there was a field where a pot was kept, the crow became very happy inside and quickly reached the pot. But as soon as the crow put his beak to drink water in the pot, his joy quickly changed into sadness, the water level in the pot was very low due to which the crow’s beak could not reach the water. Seeing the water, the thirst of the crow was growing more. After looking around, he found a way to increase the water level of the pot and drink it to satisfy his thirst. He saw that there were a lot of stones lying next to the field. Then the crow started pouring stones one by one into the pot, as the pot filled up with stone pot water level came up. As soon as the water reached the crow’s beak, he quickly drank water and satisfied his thirst. Many times we have to find a solution to fix problems, even though we do not see any simple solution but if we use our wisdom then we must find a way to do so. No matter how difficult problems you are facing in your life, thinking patiently and using wisdom will help you find unique ideas to solve those problems.
Reinstalling the Microsoft Gaming Overlay
Hi! Some time ago, I uninstalled the Microsoft Gaming Overlay - I think it was the overlay used by the Xbox Game Bar (win+G to bring it up). I am trying to reinstall it, but I can't figure it out. Is there a powershell command I can use to reinstall it? Every time I launch a game, I get the following popup a few times: Any ideas? Thanks!
Notepad misbehaves
I have English India for my desktop PC as keyboard. On clicking 'Ctr+Alt+4' I can type the Indian Rupee symbol '₹'. It works very well everywhere except on Notepad where the action simply enlarges the line in size., and the symbol ₹ never got typed. Later I found out that 'ctr+alt+3 enlarges the letters further, and on the other side ctr+alt+5 reduces the size of the letters. Please advise me as to how to rectify this issue.
