Windows 8.1 Start Screen Problem

[Hi!]

I bought a pc 3 weeks ago and since about a week ago the windows 8.1 home 64bit start screen menu doesn't have any tiles any more, and there aren't any apps on the app screen either. The desktop and all the apps on my desktop like chrome and steam still work, but I have to press the windows button+'d' to get to the desktop. If my pc specs matter here they are:

gtx 780

i5 4440

850w PSU

16gb RAM

Thanks.

[GoodBytes]

Did you use a registry cleaner at some point in time?

Did you install any software recently? If so which one?

 

Do you have the Pro version of Windows 8.1?

[Sihastru]

You must've accidentally deleted important files from your user profile files stored on the drive.

 

Check if you have system restore active, if you do, restore to the first checkpoint before this happened. If this doesn't work then you can try to backup the important stuff and perform a REFRESH. Don't perform a RESET. A refresh will (try to) keep your files/apps/programs. A reset will delete everything.

 

A refresh will reinstall windows, so it will take some time to complete, be patient.

[Hi!]

Did you use a registry cleaner at some point in time?

Did you install any software recently? If so which one?

 

Do you have the Pro version of Windows 8.1?

i dont know what a registry cleaner is.

i installed steam, origin, uplay, various games, avg anti virus and malwarebytes anti malware

i have the regular version of windows 8.1

[GoodBytes]

Ok.

 1- Download this file: http://www.helpweaver.com/appFolder.zip

 

 2- Go to: C:\Users\<ACCOUNT NAME>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows (Note: AppData is a hidden folder. To view it: go on the ribbon bar of the folder window, and click on View tab, and check the box: Hidden Items. Also, "<ACCOUTN NAME>", is as you probably guessed it, the name of your account)

 

 3- In the folder, you will see 2 or 3 files of interest: appsFolder.itemdata-ms, appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak, and maybe appsFolderLayout.bin. If you do see them, then great. If not, it's OK we will fix that.

If you see them, rename each of them as:

 

appsFolder.itemdata-ms  ---> appsFolder.itemdata-ms_OLD

appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak ---> appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak_OLD

appsFolderLayout.bin ---> appsFolderLayout.bin_OLD

 

 

We are renaming them, to have a backup in the case it doesn't work properly, you can simply delete the files mentioned in 3 in bold, and rename the files that we added _OLD at end, to what they were (so remove _OLD at the end of each file) and it will back to before.

 

4- Open the file that you just downloaded, and extract the files to the folder were we renamed the files. So: C:\Users\<ACCOUNT NAME>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows

 

 5- Open the command prompt as true administrator. To do this: Do Win+X on your keyboard, and select Command Prompt (Admin).

 

6- On the command prompt windows type: sfc /scannow, and hit the Enter key.

This process will check the system for corrupted files, and repair them. It may take a few minutes.

 

7- Once done, restart your computer. Is your problem solved?

[Hi!]

Ok.

 1- Download this file: http://www.helpweaver.com/appFolder.zip

 

 2- Go to: C:\Users\<ACCOUNT NAME>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows (Note: AppData is a hidden folder. To view it: go on the ribbon bar of the folder window, and click on View tab, and check the box: Hidden Items. Also, "<ACCOUTN NAME>", is as you probably guessed it, the name of your account)

 

 3- In the folder, you will see 2 or 3 files of interest: appsFolder.itemdata-ms, appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak, and maybe appsFolderLayout.bin. If you don't see them, then great. If not, it's OK we will fix that.

If you see them, rename each of them as:

 

appsFolder.itemdata-ms  ---> appsFolder.itemdata-ms_OLD

appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak ---> appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak_OLD

appsFolderLayout.bin ---> appsFolderLayout.bin_OLD

 

 

We are renaming them, to have a backup in the case it doesn't work properly, you can simply delete the files mentioned in 3 in bold, and rename the files that we added _OLD at end, to what they were (so remove _OLD at the end of each file) and it will back to before.

 

4- Open the file that you just downloaded, and extract the files to the folder were we renamed the files. So: C:\Users\<ACCOUNT NAME>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows

 

 5- Open the command prompt as true administrator. To do this: Do Win+X on your keyboard, and select Command Prompt (Admin).

 

6- On the command prompt windows type: sfc /scannow, and hit the Enter key.

This process will check the system for corrupted files, and repair them. It may take a few minutes.

 

7- Once done, restart your computer. Is your problem solved?

thanks ill try this