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May 15th, 2022 04:00
Windows 10 Task Bar start and search bar not working
After logging on to my Alienware M15 R3, the start button and the search bar become unresponsive. I cannot reach any of the windows settings at all even through the task manager, shortcuts, or command prompt. I was suspecting a virus due to the sheer number of background processes (>100) running and their immediate start after ending the task. I have ran numerous virus detection scans even the support assist and did not find any however the problem persists.
I have used the command prompt to run the command attrib -r -a -s -h *.* and it shows a large number (easily 100) files as access denied, which based what I understand means the files have been corrupted and the permissions have been changed to protect the virus from me deleting it. I believe I have isolated the file that was the virus (ieuinit.inf) but I do not know how to correct all the files it has damaged
I was thinking of backing up all of my files onto an external drive because based on what I can tell the virus has only infected operating system files. After removing my files, I would reset to factory default and then reload my files. I just want to make sure there is not a better way to fix the problem, or if the only way is to remove everything and restart