Programs, software and apps keep crashing after 2021 updates Windows 10

Anonymous
2021-03-15T11:25:10+00:00

Hi there,

I am coming to you because i really don't know what else to try and it is becoming frustrating really.

Since early 2021 Windows Updates on both my desktop and laptop, January, February and the most recent now in March, i always had issues with programs crashing, not responding or closing after being opened.

On my desktop the most affected were Spotify and Razer software (all and any), when trying to run them it crashes with a not responding and close program issue.

On my laptop it has reach a really frustrating point where i can't open most of the programs, and even explorer/windows base executables such as notepad, regedit, services, explorer menus when right click on them, event viewer...even attempting to fix i can't because every window closes once i try to open and do something, it just crashes and shuts, no error message, nothing...it just closes after opening.

I've been looking around the internet for reported problems like this and solutions, the few i found were more related to MS Store apps than general programs/software or even windows executables.

I've ran a DISM (DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth) and SFC (sfc /scannow) scans through command prompt and manage to get the CBS.log and dism.log uploaded to my drive in order to see them on my desktop as in the laptop is impossible to run.

There are plenty of errors but some that caught my attention were these and similar to these that happen often:

2021-03-15 09:11:09, Info                  CSI    000008b3 Warning: HKCU violation: HKCU keys are not serviceable. Create them at runtime if you need them. Failing key is \REGISTRY\USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Hangs\ with security descriptor  and SDDL hash 0x0000000000000000.

2021-03-15 09:11:09, Info                  CSI    000008db Warning: Overlap: Registry value collision found under key \REGISTRY\USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Hangs\ for Disable, only one component should set this value

Tried fixing registry permissions, but having broken registry keys without being able to open regedit it's no go.

Checked file system permissions and ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES are allow on all read & execute, list folder contents and read.

I don't see this as a hardware problem because these are two different systems - desktop and laptop - and i had no issues until 2021 windows updates and security updates.

Both systems are running the 20H2 version on Win 10 Pro x64 system and the subsequent updates from the end of January/early February 2021 started the issues described.

The obvious solution may look simple which is format and install from scratch but really don't want to go through that again...but more and more seems i will have to do that.

Any and all help, tips, advice is welcomed.

Thank you very much and looking forward for your replies and support.

Best regards,

AM

==========//==========

UPDATE:

February Win 10 update KB4601319 - causes crashes described on my desktop, unistalling this KB update fixes the problem.

March Win 10 update KB5000802 - causes the crashes described on both desktop and laptop, unistalling this KB update fixes the problem.

Windows 10 Version 20H2 (OS Build 19042.867) is conflictive with the issues described above and below.

Windows 10 Version 20H2 (OS Build 19042.746) is stable and working fine.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-06-21T16:53:44+00:00

    months**

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-06-20T02:11:12+00:00

    Aether7, thank you very much for your report. I spent all day today to fix this issue with no result. Your post solved the problem. I updated the GPU Tweak II's driver to 2.3.4 and it solved all the problems.

    What a weird and destructive problem. I thought it was caused by a smart computer virus that prevents users from installing countermeasures.

    Thank you, thank you, and thank you Aether7!

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-06-15T15:33:59+00:00

    My pc was freezing several times a day after I updated to 20H2. I had to do a hard shutdown every time in order to restart my system. Then I started having user log in errors after running the sfc and dism commands. I was hesitant at first, but I decided to update to 21H1 last week instead of having to reformat and reinstall windows. Its been exactly a week and I've had zero issues since updating. Just putting this out there.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-06-15T15:11:15+00:00

    as of june 15, 2021... its still happening. latest security update still crashes various apps including windows edge.

    update: i happen to read the reply regarding updates with systems having asus gpu tweak... its true. uninstalled mine and tried updating again. everything works fine after. I have since updated to the latest gpu tweak version. No issues since the new install. may have to update my post on the next update. system boots with the tweak on but the monitor disabled. to think that i have been experiencing the same issue every month since feb this year.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-06-04T00:31:15+00:00

    Sounds like I have the same issue. I isolated my problem down to ASUS GPU Tweak II's "Monitor" widget window. GPU Tweak II by itself does not cause the problem just this specific "Monitor" mode which apparently is monitoring in a way that is incompatible with lots of applications' stability.

    I encountered immediate crashing of applications (but not limited to):

    • VS Code
    • Notepad
    • Windows Terminal
    • Windows Event Viewer
    • Application installer wizards
    • Microsoft Sticky Notes
    • Microsoft To Do
    • Microsoft Edge

    For what it is worth, I have ASUS GPU Tweak II v2.1.6.0 installed.

    UPDATE:

    Like others, updating to a newer version seems to fix the issue, in my case v2.3.3.0.

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