Settings app crashes accessing "Focus Assist" settings

Question

Hi,

I'm experiencing the following issue on a system I just fully reinstalled (i.e. including a reformat of the HDD; I'm now running build 17134.228).

Every time I try to access the "Focus Assist" settings in the Settings app, it just dies.

Any clue?

Answer 1

Does anyone with these problems also happen to run Avast antivirus? I just found this topic: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=222282.0 with very little info so far.

The link is spot on!

Yes, I have Avast and it was on Silent Mode and yes I had "Windows Push Notifications User Service_193fbd92" turned off. Once I went to "services.msc" and turned on the service, Focus Assist started to work. No restart required. 

I have no idea why the name looks so weird. The description of the service is "This service hosts Windows notification platform which provides support for local and push notifications. Supported notifications are tile, toast and raw." There is another service called Windows Push Notification System Service, which was running.

I was able to reproduce the problem by stopping the notifications user service and then going to Focus Assist in Settings and it crashes. I don't know if Avast is turning the service off, but surely it's a bug in Windows to not handle the service being off in Settings.

Answer 2

Also, my notification center shows "You have x notifications", but when I open it, it shows none (and no Clear notifications either). It's like the entire feature is broken now.

Answer 3

Hi, sba923

follow these steps. I hope it helps.

Open Start, type: CMD

Right click CMD

Click Run as administrator

Type in at the prompt OR Copy and Paste these one at a time : (Hit enter after each)

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Also run the System File Checker utility:

Open Start, type: CMD

Right click CMD

Click Run as administrator

At the Command Prompt, type: sfc /SCANNOW

This will check for any integrity violations

Restart your system

Answer 4

Does anyone with these problems also happen to run Avast antivirus? I just found this topic: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=222282.0 with very little info so far.

I've been having problems with the notification center for a few weeks or maybe a bit over a month now.

• At first it was showing the white filled out notification icon, but no number. No notifications have shown in the pop-out side bar since that happened. I tried clicking the "Don't show number of new notifications" option to flip it off and back on, but nothing happened. I ignored it for a few weeks as I was busy and away from home a lot.
• Since 2 days, the icon shows a little moon, and suddenly Focus assist seems to be on. I don't remember turning that on, so I right click, and choose Focus Assist > Off. Nothing happens again.
• Then I went into Settings, the moment I click Focus Assist in System, the panel crashes.

That's when I found this topic and the Avast one above. I haven't tested anything yet, so I'm not sure, but I do happen to have Avast installed.

Tomorrow I'll be able to look into this on my own PC. Got an exam in the afternoon I need to prepare myself for right now.

Answer 5

This answer looks rather boilerplate to me...

Why would the system be corrupted (so soon) after being installed?

Rebooting has fixed the problem so far...

????