Windows 10 : my windows/programs keep closing.

[brian777999]

My HP laptop  computer did an automatic Windows 10 update 2 days ago and now my computer keeps closing all the windows/programs every few hours. What can I do to stop this ? I have googled this and it seems to be a common problem but nobody has any good fix for it. I only have about six windows open at a time and nothing is very big or using much CPU. It was not  a big problem before as it only happened a few times per month.

 

NOTE : Windows 10 updates automatically ; it cannot be stopped, only postponed for a day or so. It is a very annoying feature of Windows 10 !

[njee20]

Which programs?

 

That doesn’t sound like a typical W10 behaviour. Ive heard of it closing File Explorer windows randomly, but not everything. 

[hayfield]

I seem to have something similar occurring intermittently, rather than sleep it just closes down. Then when I reopen it opes in a much larger font, I have to restart it to get it back to normal. Lasts for a day or so then goes away 

[60021 Pen-y-Ghent]

When you say closing what exactly do you mean? ie Does Windows itself keep running and all open apps close or does Windows close and the laptop power down so that you have to power it on again? Is the laptop running on mains or battery power when this happens?

 

I had an issue which happened only on battery power that the whole shooting match would just turn off (similar to Hayfield without the font size switch). I found that the answer to my problem was option 3 in the attached doc along with a good dusting of the innards of the laptop with an air duster. I went from 2 or 3 incidents a week (sometimes a day) to none since February. (It would be worth checking the settings in option 1 as well.)

 

Hope that is of some use to someone.

 

Regards all, stay safe

David

poweroffissues.docx

[RFS]

7 hours ago, brian777999 said:

My HP laptop  computer did an automatic Windows 10 update 2 days ago and now my computer keeps closing all the windows/programs every few hours. What can I do to stop this ? I have googled this and it seems to be a common problem but nobody has any good fix for it. I only have about six windows open at a time and nothing is very big or using much CPU. It was not  a big problem before as it only happened a few times per month.

 

NOTE : Windows 10 updates automatically ; it cannot be stopped, only postponed for a day or so. It is a very annoying feature of Windows 10 !

 

But you do say it was happening before the update as well, which would seem to rule out the update as the cause of the problem. 

 

I would suspect the issue is to do with power settings, and Windows is closing what it sees as unused apps in order to save power. Go to settings -> power and sleep -> advanced power settings. You can switch off power saver mode, for example. 

[brian777999]

It only closes the websites I am looking at (they are listed across top of the screen) : the computer stays on. I always run my laptop from mains power.

Examples of usual websites that may be open at same time : RMWEB, Ebay, ABC News, BOM weather, The Guardian, Cairns TV Guide, IMDB.

Edited May 6, 2020 by brian777999

[mezzoman253]

Hi,

 

A shot in the dark. I searched Google for this problem and one thread, here https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/177749-stopping-windows-10-from-auto-closing-programs-to-free-up-ram/

 

It suggested that Windows was shutting down programs to save RAM. It may be you've reached that stage where RAM in getting low on your PC.

 

The 2nd post down on that page suggests running "gpedit.msc" and seeing if this "feature" is enabled, and if so changing it to detect only. It seemed to work for the OP.

 

I've not had this problem, but checked my PC and it wasn't enabled anyway.

 

Windows 10 has a habit of turning things on/off during updates, which seems to vary by user, and it may have enabled this.

 

Good luck, HTH,

 

Rob

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by mezzoman253

[brian777999]

I tried running gpedit.msc but that file is not found.

[mezzoman253]

Hi again,

 

Found this post below relating to "sleep mode" on the HP help site. Again it's try it and see, but it does seem to be Windows updates causing these things to happen.  It seems to "reset" things in the process of updating. Whether that's to get a known state before updating, or just poor programming, I don't know. Not all updates do the same things to different PC's either. It's a minefield and Microsoft need to sort it out.

 

Hope you get it sorted soon, I know how frustrating it can be, especially at this time.

 

Rob

================================================================================================================

" ‎03-17-2019 10:30 PM

I was having this same problem on a laptop from a different manufacturer. Turns out a recent Windows update had disabled the Hybrid Sleep mode. Turning it back on restored the old behavior: Closing the lid or allowing the computer to sleep no longer closes open applications.

 

To turn Hybrid Sleep mode back on, go to Settings > System > Power & Sleep 

Under "Related settings" click "Additional power settings." The Power Options window should appear.

 

For whichever power plan you're using, click "Change plan settings." 

In the next window, click "Change advanced power settings." You'll get yet another pop-up window called "Power Options."

Find the Sleep category and click the '+' to spin down more options. Click the '+' next to "Allow hybrid sleep."

Set it to 'On' for plugged in. Maybe for On battery, as well, but that's up to you.

 

Click "OK" to commit the changes. 

Back in the Edit Plan Settings window, the "Save changes" button is probably greyed out. Make a change to one of the options there to enable it so you can save. You can change it back to the previous setting immediately if you like. I am not sure if that step is actually necessary, but the first time I tried to make the change it didn't stick."

 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by mezzoman253

[deepfat]

@brian777999 OK I'll take this as I work for Microsoft in the UK (I am afryer@microsoft.com) so what build number  are you on and have you actually asked us for help 

[brian777999]

1. Build number : what does that mean ? 

 

2. I was not aware the Microsoft had a help desk. I just checked now and I think the number is 13 20 58 in Australia. I will give them a try tomorrow.

[njee20]

2 hours ago, deepfat said:

@brian777999 OK I'll take this as I work for Microsoft in the UK (I am afryer@microsoft.com) so what build number  are you on and have you actually asked us for help 

Sure it's not your intention, but that comes across as a rather aggressive offer of help!

 

If you're talking about browser tabs then that points to a browser issue though. Which browser are you using? Chrome is notorious for consuming huge amounts of RAM, so could be a cause if W10 if runnning low on RAM as discussed above.

 

You can't not have gpedit.msc, but you could probably do some damage in there, so proceed with caution if you're not happy with what you're looking at!

[deepfat]

@Brian77799 I apologise unreservedly as it was not my intention to be aggressive at all. I was just concerned like you are that well meaning  amateurs using things group policy will make things worse. So I won't be changing anything if help is needed, just getting diagnostics and feeding back to smarter folks than me as windows is not my field anymore

[deepfat]

Brian they'll want to know which precise version of Windows 10 you are running - Go to setting (the gear shaped thing ). In that go to System and select about to display this

 

the OS build is what I was referring to under Windows specifications. Ping me if you get stuck.  I haven't ever heard of a problem like this so actually I'd be interested in what's going on but it's sounds like we are a long way apart!

[brian777999]

I called Microsoft help desk. The lady took over my computer by remote assistance and performed a number of tasks including updating driver software. Strangely, there was no record of that Windows 10 update from a few days ago so we are not sure what happened with that ?  Anyway, I will wait and see if the changes she made will make any difference.

 

NOTE : she pointed out that I had not cleared out my temporary files for quite a while either. This was something I used to do every week but for some reason I had completely forgotten about it : run %temp% .