Windows started acting very sluggish, eventually crashed, so I reinstalled it and the system was still in disarray.
Windows started acting very sluggish, eventually crashed, so I reinstalled it and the system was still in disarray.
So a few days back, when I tried to turn on my PC, I entered the password and pressed enter. It took a long time. Once Windows started, the desktop was empty, and I couldn’t open any apps from the taskbar. The screen felt unresponsive, like it needed a refresh a couple of times before loading. Eventually, it did load partially. But many programs wouldn’t start and displayed an error about a missing service—something like “the service you wanted to run is not installed.” This included Task Manager and the setup.exe file on a bootable Windows USB stick. Networking also didn’t work. After a clean install, most issues disappeared. However, the next morning I faced similar problems. I also noticed a message saying “Windows needs to be repaired” sometimes, while other times it would just boot normally. It worked a few times, but once networking failed again after flashing the BIOS. Right before I did that, Windows booted into the setup screen after moving all files from the USB to the main drive. Anyone know what’s going on and how to fix it?
The solution could have involved checking the system files, though it might fail later. A fresh installation would remove existing threats.
It seems you're wondering if you might be overlooking something. According to the theory, only items linked to the deleted files remain. So, if you have a malicious file still present on your drive unrelated to the Windows installation, it should still exist.
Perform another clean setup, ensuring the boot drive is securely wiped beforehand.
I replaced the SSD and set up Windows on it. If it functions for a week, I’ll note @manikyath’s approach as correct.