Win 8.1 Problem with desktop after system start.

Hello
I own Windows 8.1 64x Pro, few hours ago two apps to clean registry were run on this system, auslogic free registry cleaner and eusig free registry cleaner, full scan and clean was done, sadly the person doing this did not make backup.

After this operation, and restart of the system the pc started with an odd behaviour, system started as fast as usually, on ssd drive. But the desktop icons load as full white icons (like file without association to any program) or some load and some are white. If I right click on desktop and use refresh they either go all full white, or go back to normal. Task Bar is working, but not all the usuall processess and drivers are loaded, only AV (Norton Internet Security) and Nvidia Experience are loaded. Starting apps is sluggish, and after 2-3mins desktop becoms unresponsive, task bar still works, then all the other drivers and services load and PC becomes fully usuable and normal. No slows, sluggish behaviour etc. No odd processes in task manager.

I've uninstalled Norton to check if it is the possible cause of this, but turned out exactly the same.
It seems like some registry values were deleted and thats the casue of all this. Scanned the PC with NIS and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scans came out clean.

ZeroSeventy said:

Hello
I own Windows 8.1 64x Pro, few hours ago two apps to clean registry were run on this system, auslogic free registry cleaner and eusig free registry cleaner, full scan and clean was done, sadly the person doing this did not make backup.

After this operation, and restart of the system the pc started with an odd behaviour, system started as fast as usually, on ssd drive. But the desktop icons load as full white icons (like file without association to any program) or some load and some are white. If I right click on desktop and use refresh they either go all full white, or go back to normal. Task Bar is working, but not all the usuall processess and drivers are loaded, only AV (Norton Internet Security) and Nvidia Experience are loaded. Starting apps is sluggish, and after 2-3mins desktop becoms unresponsive, task bar still works, then all the other drivers and services load and PC becomes fully usuable and normal. No slows, sluggish behaviour etc. No odd processes in task manager.

I've uninstalled Norton to check if it is the possible cause of this, but turned out exactly the same.
It seems like some registry values were deleted and thats the casue of all this. Scanned the PC with NIS and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scans came out clean.

Click to expand...

What's the possibility that you might have a Restore Point that you could go back to. Even if one was not created before the Registry Cleaning there could still be one from some point in the past. Also, many Registry Cleaners automatically create a Restore Point as a part of their operation.

Sadly the Restoration Point mechanism is turned off on this machine. Very limited SSD and HDD space.

I wonder if there is a way to rebuild registry from "scratch", something that would just scan through registry and restore some basic and default windows functions if such are missing.

If you were an OLD member of this forum and not a newcomer, I'd have to say, "What were you thinking?"

Two things:
Norton has not been used by anyone I know for twenty years or more. It's a huge HOG and misses so many Viruses!

And no-one should ever turn off their System Restore. I too have a SSD, but I'd NEVER turn off my System Restore.
I might limit how much disk space that it uses, but I'd certainly NEVER turn it off.

I rely on and use my System Restore Points so much that I even run a Script in my startup folder (thank you Shawn) to force a new System Restore Point, on every boot up, which is at least daily, and can be as much as three or four times a day, depending on what I'm doing.

If I were you, I'd never use that registry cleaner again....delete it ASAP! It's quite obviously NOT Reliable.
And NO, you cannot rebuild your registry from scratch, without reinstalling your OS.

To say that you've really shot yourself in your foot, would be a gross understatement.
No backups, and NO Restore points, is extremely Foolish, to say the least, and not the way to run a computer!

So now that you've learned a hard lesson, what are you going to do?
As a computer tech of over 36 years, I strongly suggest that you turn ON your System Restore program
and start doing weekly Backups of your entire C: drive, storing that backup image on an external HD.

Good Luck!
TechnoMage

TechnoMage said:

Norton has not been used by anyone I know for twenty years or more. It's a huge HOG and misses so many Viruses!

Click to expand...

I recommend rechecking your info about Norton. Sometime like 3 or 4 years ago, Symantec completely rebuild Norton, at this moment its not a HOG, its one of the most lightweight AV suits on the market(as I type this, it is sitting on 9.6mb of ram), as well as the protection became much better.
I myself used to go against using Norton, until recently, I had an experience with it. Was surprised to see how little resources it used compared to ESET, Kaspersky and BitDefender, and when it came to detecting viruses it was on pair with the mentioned three.

TechnoMage said:

And no-one should ever turn off their System Restore. I too have a SSD, but I'd NEVER turn off my System Restore.
I might limit how much disk space that it uses, but I'd certainly NEVER turn it off.

Click to expand...

On the machine that is affected with the issue, there is not enough space for System Restore. So using it is not an option.
Personally, I dont use System Restore, had way too many after issues with apps not willing to work etc. Instead I prefer to make whole system images.

Sir, are you a single user, or a professional Computer Tech?

Everything I say here, is based on years of Professional Experience. "A man with experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument".

When it comes to Norton (Symantec Corp.) the old adage "once burned, twice shy" comes to mind.
Or even "screw me once, shame on you, but screw me twice, shame on me".
How much did Symantec pay you for that glowing testimonial? Your post definitely reads like a Paid Testimonial, with all those numbers.

Norton products started getting a bad rap way back in 1989, when their hard drive defrag routine was trashing Seagate hard drives, all over the country. Then later, their AV software was credited for bringing many PC's right down to a crawl.
Anyone complaining of a really slow PC, on the old PC Help forums, was first told to uninstall Norton.

As a computer tech, I've had to work on PC's that could hardly even run, with Norton AV on them, due to the 'overload'.
And, after Norton was removed and a virus scan was run with another program, many viruses and other malware were found that had been existing right under Norton's nose. (so to speak)

That exact scenario happened to me one day. A lady had just paid for an annual upgrade to her Norton AV program. Her PC was running really bad!
I got her permission to disable Norton and install and run AVG FREE. As AVG ran a scan and started logging the viruses it was finding, the ladies expression went from curious to horrified to totally p****d off! Before I left that day, she was on the phone with Symantec, demanding her money back.

You can advertise Norton (Symantec) as much as you want, but don't expect me to EVER use it or recommend to any of my customers that they use it. I fix computers, and I tweak and tune them to run better than when they came out of the store,,, it's what I do! And it's what I've done for the past 36 years.

OH, and I don't want any Auslogic product anywhere near my PC's.
I've tested them over the years and I've found them seriously wanting.

Good Luck!
TechnoMage

ZeroSeventy said:

Hello
I own Windows 8.1 64x Pro, few hours ago two apps to clean registry were run on this system, auslogic free registry cleaner and eusig free registry cleaner, full scan and clean was done, sadly the person doing this did not make backup.

After this operation, and restart of the system the pc started with an odd behaviour, system started as fast as usually, on ssd drive. But the desktop icons load as full white icons (like file without association to any program) or some load and some are white. If I right click on desktop and use refresh they either go all full white, or go back to normal. Task Bar is working, but not all the usuall processess and drivers are loaded, only AV (Norton Internet Security) and Nvidia Experience are loaded. Starting apps is sluggish, and after 2-3mins desktop becoms unresponsive, task bar still works, then all the other drivers and services load and PC becomes fully usuable and normal. No slows, sluggish behaviour etc. No odd processes in task manager.

I've uninstalled Norton to check if it is the possible cause of this, but turned out exactly the same.
It seems like some registry values were deleted and thats the casue of all this. Scanned the PC with NIS and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scans came out clean.

Click to expand...

Hi,
Sorry for the delay. May I know which version of Norton are you running?
Please let us know, we'll check that for you.

Praveen
Norton Support.