Need help!! Windows apps, Start, Cortana, taskbar not working.

[Leo500700]

I'm using a lenovo G510 preinstalled with win 8.1. I recently upgraded to win 10. Everything was working fine till I installed malwarebytes and ran a scan revealing several potentially unwanted programs. I went ahead with the cleanup and reboot only to find that the task bar start and cortana weren't working. Later I also found that several windows apps like edge, reader etc weren't working either.

Iv'e tried the following-
1) Reset PC and keep my files. The problem still persisted.
2) Reinstall win apps package using powershell. The operation ran smoothly but this too didn't fix the problem.
3) Ran DISM tool DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
After running the first command it said that no store corruption was detected.
4) Tried to create a new account on the PC. This Didn't work since every time I clicked on the option in setting to create a new account nothing happened. I guess since this is a windows feature it too must be malfunctioning.

I really don't want to do a full factory reset especially since win 10 isn't free anymore. I also don't want to be stuck using win 8.1. It lacks the level of polish that win 10 has. I also don't have any restore points.

 

[amit.tiger12]

I'm using a lenovo G510 preinstalled with win 8.1. I recently upgraded to win 10. Everything was working fine till I installed malwarebytes and ran a scan revealing several potentially unwanted programs. I went ahead with the cleanup and reboot only to find that the task bar start and cortana weren't working. Later I also found that several windows apps like edge, reader etc weren't working either.

Iv'e tried the following-
1) Reset PC and keep my files. The problem still persisted.
2) Reinstall win apps package using powershell. The operation ran smoothly but this too didn't fix the problem.
3) Ran DISM tool DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
After running the first command it said that no store corruption was detected.
4) Tried to create a new account on the PC. This Didn't work since every time I clicked on the option in setting to create a new account nothing happened. I guess since this is a windows feature it too must be malfunctioning.

I really don't want to do a full factory reset especially since win 10 isn't free anymore. I also don't want to be stuck using win 8.1. It lacks the level of polish that win 10 has. I also don't have any restore points.

Full factory reset will not remove your activation. If your windows 8.1 is activated then no need to activate upgraded windows 10 again.

You can clean install windows 10 and use windows 8.1 activation key. It will work if you have genuine windows 8.1. but still ask windows and other users.

After clean install use good security/antivirus/internet security like 360 total security or avira free or paid (bit defender, Kaspersky) with free firewall like Comodo.
This will help your system from potential threats.

 

[TheSloth]

@Leo500700

You can clean install windows 10 and use windows 8.1 activation key. It will work if you have genuine windows 8.1. but still ask windows and other users.

I had language issue after upgrading to Win10 first time(i messed up settings during installation). Then I had to reinstall Win10.
1. I formatted C: drive and did a fresh install of Win10 through bootable pendrive(aka clean install).
2. After installing successfully, I went to windows activaion option, clicked it, entered my Win7 key and got the message that my win10 has been successfully activated.