The strangest Windows 8.1 problem I've ever faced... what even is this?
The strangest Windows 8.1 problem I've ever faced... what even is this?
I started my computer and opened Windows 8.1, everything appeared to load properly. When I used Chrome, it stopped responding. Trying to log out and sign back in caused freezing during the process. After rebooting, I entered the OS but Outlook failed to start, displaying a message about accessing a folder. Dropbox showed permission errors and prevented me from opening most programs, including Chrome and Firefox. I felt worried it might be ransomware, but found no suspicious files. To investigate further, I ran a scan with MalwareByte while updating Windows and checked all my files. Many images were too large or corrupted, which eventually cleared things up. Now everything seems to work again. I’m confused about what happened and wondering if anyone else experienced similar issues.
GPU? Seems like a nVidia driver issue. Please share your GPU and driver info.
GTX 980 Reference from Gigabyte and Version 352.30 But could a graphics driver really lead to problems where no app loads because of "permission issues" or turning all folders into read-only? Ask yourself—you changed your message while I was writing... ugh!
Consider the basics of system health. Launch an admin CMD window and input the commands: SFC /SCANNOW to inspect Windows files. If issues are detected, it may automatically fix them. After completion, execute DISM /ONLINE /CLEANUP-IMAGE /RESTOREHEALTH to repair component store and restore stability.
Windows Resource Protection failed to execute the requested action.
This behavior resembles malicious software. Be aware malware often evades detection by altering the files it hides during scans. It may shift its location while the scan is underway—for example, moving from File B to File A while Malwarebytes finishes scanning File A. This makes detection difficult since it appears to relocate rather than remain static. I’d recommend running a scan before Windows starts, as Avast can handle such checks. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, consider restoring to a previous backup and reinstalling Windows.