Windows programs won't run, won't open, or crash on startup?

You sit down at your computer, and double click an icon on your desktop. Nothing happens. You double click again. Nothing happens. You reboot the computer and try once more. Still nothing.

Then you try another application. Same thing. Seems like a lot of programs simply won't start. What gives? Do you have a virus? Time to throw your computer in the trash and buy a new one? No, there are just various things it can be.

First, there's the simplest and most likely explanation: Corruption either in Windows or on the storage media has broken the application. That's the easiest fix. Just uninstall it and reinstall, and it will probably work again. If uninstall/reinstall makes it work, then it is almost certain that the same will work for any other applications which are broken!

However, if it does not work, then your most likely culprits are either an issue with Windows or a virus.

First, download Malwarebytes, which is free, and do a scan of your computer. Ignore any pop-ups asking you to pay. Just close them and run the free scan, which is good enough, and select to "quarantine" any threats which are found.

After that, reboot and try again. If certain applications still won't run, there's one other thing you can do.

1) Type regedit from the Windows search box. Then when you see Registry Editor come up, right click and select "Run as Administrator"

2) Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> CurrentControlSet -> Services -> AppIDSvc

3) Click on AppIDSvc and enter the new value as 2, then click OK

4) Reboot

This will force the "Application Identity Service" to automatically run on startup.

If none of these fix it, you likely have some kind of deep Windows corruption, and probably need to reinstall Windows.


Before you reinstall Windows, you might want to try this last idea:

1) Type "Create a restore point" in the Windows search bar, and click on "Create a restore point" which will pop up

2) Select System Protection tab

3) If the System Restore button is clickable (wait about 60 seconds to see if it is or not), then click on it. Then select a restore point before the date when the problems started. Let the process run, and see if this fixes things.