Windows 10 keeps deleting programs

Question

I 've had a few clients report the issue where Windows 10 has totally removed all traces of a program from the OS.

Today two were interesting.

1. Office 2016 Home and Business
2. A financial application (like QuickBooks)

In both cases the users were using the applications yesterday, jumped on their machine today and found either icons pointing to the missing app or all traces - startmenu/desktop icons gone, file associations gone.

It's not my first encounter with the behavior.  I have used many of the methods over the years to resolve it, some long term, others it happens again say 6 moth later.  I'm not sure it has yet been properly analysed by MSFT, but believe its something to do with defender.

My question to MSFT - is there an event recorded in the evcent log, that shows this is what took place and why?

At present we have to guess that this is what caused the "disappearance".  It would speeed up diagnosis greatly if an event is written to the Appl Event Log to diagnose the cause.  Pretty please.

If this cant be done , why, what is happening that prevents some sort of record being made that defender or Windows 10 has decided an application must go to the heavens?

Please no copy paste answers from other simlar question that arent waht I am asking :( I have plenty of these

Answer 1

Thanks Greg, know how to read a log, have another read of my question.     And its not as rare as you think, if my client base is only 300 odd users and i've seen it multiple times in the time Windows 10 has been around, then I'd hardly says it rare.

Answer 2

Have a nice day, Shane.

Answer 3

You asked "My question to MSFT - is there an event recorded in the evcent log, that shows this is what took place and why?"

I gave you the exact answer to that question, which is the Event Viewer. Now most people would have stopped there. But I went the extra mile to find you the very best tutorial for how to read the Event Viewer which gives tips that even I did not know - and I have won the highest award in the tech field for the last ten years for my work in forums.

I see that you're an IT Pro. I would ask this question at our sister forums for IT Professionals, Q&A forums, as Community is strictly an end-consumer forum. Go here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/index....

There are also good IT Pro forums here:

https://www.techrepublic.com/forums/

https://www.spiceworks.com/

I hope it helps.

Answer 4

Hi Shane. I'm Greg, an Independent Advisor.

The only reports I see of this are after WIndows Updates. It is extremely rare that Apps just disappear.

See if you can System Restore to a point before the problem began following this guide: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-system-r...

System Restore is your first line of defense and can take you back to a point before a problem began. If it doesn't help then you can undo it. Read about it first in the tutorial above and then try restoring to just before this started.

If the problem repeats or System Restore doesn't work then check which Windows Updates were installed at Settings > Update & Security > Windows Updates > Update History, uninstall them there or System Restore again, then immediately check for and block the Updates with the Hide Updates tool explained here: https://www.howtogeek.com/223864/how-to-uninsta...

To reinstall Office 2016 see here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/down...

For Quickbooks use your disk or access the latest media via Quickbooks website using your account log-in.

You asked if there's a log that might have recorded it. You can check the Event Viewer log which is explained here:

https://www.howtogeek.com/school/using-windows-...

Feel free to ask any questions. Based on the results you post back I may have other suggestions if necessary.

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