Since last night some programs won't start while others do

[nerotic]

Some programs do launch normally but others, whether at startup or manually just sit there eating CPU and use exactly 3.29mb of RAM.

I''m not even sure where to begin with this. Any pointers would be appreciated.

SFC and DISM both come back clean.

 

[xilolee]

Hi nerotic. :wave:

Found on internet:

1. Fastboot.exe = (Micro-Star INT'L CO.,LTD) part of MSI fast-boot application
2. MSIRegister.exe = part of MSI MSIRegister application
3. DUC40.exe = part of noip.com application. It seems it could also be part of TightVNC Software.
4. iastoricon.exe = part of Intel Rapid Storage Technology - IRST: Intel Array STORage Technology ICON Service (This service displays a toolbar icon showing an exclamation point if the IRST Service is not running and a green checkmark if it is)
5. plexservicetray.exe = part of Plex Media Server (?) - website: plex.tv
6. update.exe = unknown (many programs use this name)
7. trackerr.exe = part of portablefreeware.com TrackErr (??) "quickly finds audio files with digital rights management (DRM) that prevents the files from playing on your system without a service connection (like iTunes or Windows Media)."

Now you could ask "Can I remove all of those programs without consequences?": probably yes.
Only you could know if you need those programs.

Does this help to identify what happened two nights ago?

 

[nerotic]

I get where you're coming from but I need DUC, Plex and especially Trackerr (Trackerr – Harvest Time Tracking for Windows) which I use to track my time as I'm a developer.

Nevertheless, I don't want to run from my Windows problem because eventually it will have consequences so I need to understand what's wrong with the install and figure it out.

I should note that I've been a Windows power user for 20 years now, since NT, doing my own desktop support but this problem has me baffled. I've been through all the regular debugging routines but this is apparently a special problem.

I use an app called Startup Delayer (see attached) to stagger my machine's app and service launches for a quicker startup.

Because of this I've already seen that it's not an issue of the applications being sequential.

So in this case, in order.
Plex Service Tray
CouchPotato
DUC
Sublight
Trillian

Red apps/services "lock up" as in the first screenshot while the green ones launch normally.

Even stranger, if I uninstall Plex Service Tray and reinstall it starts normally. However at the next boot it fails again.

Other applications such as Trackerr or Google Play Desktop Player (which is where update.exe came from) (GitHub - MarshallOfSound/Google-Play-Music-Desktop-Player-UNOFFICIAL-: A beautiful cross platform Desktop Player for Google Play Music) won't even install without encountering the same fate.

 

[xilolee]

Try to disable windows fast startup.

 

[nerotic]

After going as far as to reset NTFS permissions and owners and still not gaining any ground I gave it a good think.

Since it was the exact same programs each time, I could install new ones without fanfare I decided to check my security setup which is Hitman Pro Alert and BitDefender Free.

I uninstalled both and everything started working again. I remembered that BitDefender had not just a definition update but also an application update and that's about when my problems started.

I've reinstalled HMP and still working fine, going to install BitDefender shortly and see if it was an isolated issue.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone else down the line.