When a Windows 10 system is acting up, these 5 steps will clear up most common problems easily without spending any time troubleshooting.
Start off by right-clicking on the start menu icon, and choosing Windows PowerShell (Admin)
Or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘+x, and then press a
System File Checker
First, the tried and true System File Checker, which simply checks key OS files for corruption, it is most useful after an unexpected shutdown or power loss:
sfc /scannow
OS Image Repair
This command will check and repair the Windows OS image, similar to the above but it does more and takes quite a bit longer:
dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Fix App Store Apps
As more and more previously built-in things like the calculator app get move over to the app store, it’s increasingly important to include the next command in troubleshooting - re-register all app store apps:
Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
Check Disk
Schedule a full scan and repair of the entire hard drive:
chkdsk /x /f /r
Reboot
The disk has to be checked at boot time to run a full scan, so this command will reboot the system. After the reboot, see if any issues still exist, and then start troubleshooting if need be. Most issues in my experience will have been resolved at this point.
shutdown /r
What about Antivirus
The enabled-by-default Windows Defender has gotten really good, so I recommend just using that for most users. If you want some extra protection, Malwarebytes is a great tool that you can run in addition to Windows Defender and I highly recommend it.
