Strange things happening to Win7 since Win10 came out

Howdy

Built my own PC a few months back (learning 3DS MAX, needed something better than the 15-year-old vet I'd been using). Installed Win7 Ultimate on it (x64; this is my first 64-bit PC). Everything (considering I was mad I had to give up WinXP...) eventually worked the way I wanted.

A few weeks back, the Win10 bugs popped up. Initially I reserved a copy; I later found out it wasn't feasible to dual-boot to try it out, and jumped through the hoops to lose it.

However: a couple of weeks ago, four updates installed. At that point in time, my Windows started being flaky:

1) First noticed when I went to create a subdirectory. Initially it would say "Could not find this item. This is no longer located in <the create directory>. Verify the item's location and try again." Selecting TRy again always gets me the new folder, but it's irritating. It's not a permissions issue; this happens whether I'm in something I took ownership of, or in my own Documents folder.

2) Files and folders that used to be completely accessible (either taken or created) are now proving inaccessible. Example: my NORMAL.DOT I usually keep in the OFFICE/TEMPLATES directory because I'm the only one who uses Word and it's where I can easily track it. Suddenly Word can't open it. I can recreate my customizations (have done so twice), but can't save them to that file. Major pain.

3) Programs that I normally run without a problem now won't. I use Process Explorer, and I store it in the root of C:\Windows. Suddenly today (among other problems) it won't run--from anywhere. Including two freshly-installed copies, one in my Documents directory.

I don't download an awful lot that's not from a trusted location, but I ran a McAfee full scan (nothing) and a Malwarebytes (generic edition) scan (found a file I downloaded a while back from Cebas--a supplier of 3D software plugins, for those who don't know--that was perfectly safe). Ran Silent Runners, and found nothing running deeply that I'm not already aware of. So it doesn't seem to be a virus or the like.

A couple of weeks back, I experienced all these problems, went to the update app, found four that had installed in close order, and backed them out. After rebooting, everything appeared back to normal, so I figured that must've been it (prep work for Win10 or the like). However, the problems are back today, and I haven't had any updates come down the pike. Uninstalled one hotfix from a few days ago, but that hasn't solved the problem.

Anyone ever heard of this kind of random effects affecting a Win7 install? I never used to have these problems with WinXP! :S

Thanks if anyone can think of anything to suggest (preferably besides "reinstall" 'cause I've put a fair bit of work into customizing this install to be actually usable in spite of being Win7).

Davey
homyakchik

The most ready solution I would recommend is to do a System Restore to before you installed those updates.

Were the updates labelled "Important"? Since GWX (the Windows 10 Adware), I've pretty much ignored Recommended Updates. This has kept me in the clear so far...

:)
Thrashzone: McAfee's done well by me through the years (better than any of the alternatives when I tried them). I find a handful of files that are False Positives and exclude them, and it catches anything else. No complaints here.

Classic Shell I use, but the last UI I was comfortable with was Win2K; in WinXP I could select the Classic Windows Theme and tweak it. It's all just a matter of what UI helps you or me get our work done, and the Super Balloony Death By Honey And Marshmallows UIs that microsoft has crammed down our throats since WinXP have slowed me down, not helped me. (The Flat Featureless Dimensionless Lifeless UI Of Death is a major reason I'm not interested in inflicting Win10 on myself. Or any PC I value. Other things, too, but that UI's gotta stay away.) So, away they go.

The tweaks for the UI I can guarantee aren't the problem. They've worked for months now, and they worked for months when I tested Win7 in a VM in WinXP; never any of these problems. The timing with the Win10 infliction is suspicious, but my efforts to keep the Win10 downgrade off my system appear to be working, so now I'm wondering what's actually in those stupid Updates.

GSystems: That's essentially what I did the first time. Just uninstalling the latest hotfix and rebooting took care of every problem except the "File Not Found"/"Folder Not Found" problem in Explorer. "Try Again" always works (knock on wood) but it's annoying, especially if I'm trying to copy a handful of files. Grrr.

One solution in the past was to reinvigorate File Manager (lovingly preserved from the days of WinNT), which is by far my favorite file manager (especially compared to *ugh* Explorer), but I haven't done so with this Win7 install. May need to.

The updates that I uninstalled were, best I can tell, labeled Important. There's one sitting in the queue now that I'm hesitant to install. 'Til I read your comment I tended to let any updated needed (with a few microsoft-centric ones very excepted) install. Now, I think, I'll see what happens if I just let them alone...

Still, it's weird (at least to me) that something would go wrong at the system level if I haven't done anything around the time of Going Bad to make them go bad. Stoopid Windows.

Davey

A-a-a-a-a-and... what may've been the problem (or at least a significant contributor to it):

I'd gotten warnings a few times (seemingly at random) that win was making a temporary paging file, as my existing one apparently didn't exist any more. Initially just put it down to Win7; it's not like these releases inspire confidence, after all. But took a look the second or third time this came up, only to find that my paging file drive was missing.

I run multiple hard drives. C: - OS; D: - Graphics (with some video); G: - Documents (holdover from when I had E: and F: drives); T: - my old OS drive, now used for TEMP/TMP, for paging file use, and for downloads. And V: for videos and music.

I found ages ago that having my temp/paging stuff on a drive not my OS one sped things up nicely, and have done it ever since. However, that T: drive is the oldest in my collection, and it's apparently on its last legs (disappointing, but not surprising), and sometimes fires up and sometimes doesn't.

So I switched my paging file to C:, copied off all the files I needed from T:, and removed the paging file from T: as well. Restarted, and voila! most of the problems disappeared, and have stayed gone.

In terms of Explorer and the problems therewith, I reinvigorated my File Manager, and it works sweetly; haven't used Explorer since, and haven't missed it. Score one for the good guys! :)

Can't figure why needing a temporary paging file would screw up so blessed many things, but, well... it's microsoft.

Thanks to all for the assistance and responses.

Davey