Windows 10 Health Check.

[hlewton]

I read an article that suggests checking Windows health by running the following programs all of which I am unfamiliar with, except for sfc /scannow.

If I do run the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) command with the suggested syntax is there any precautions I need to be aware of? Or will these programs just run and not expect any interaction from me that I could possibly not understand or maybe even hurt my computer?

After looking at the attached image I believe I would be safe in running these programs but just want to double check to be sure.

Thanks

"Check your Windows health by running its built-in tools. Start with the System File Checker applet to find any corrupted system files. Here's the quick how-to:
. Confirm that you have a recent backup. Then close all running apps and enter "cmd" into the Windows search box.
. When Command Prompt pops up, right-click it and select Run as administrator.
. Enter sfc /scannow at the prompt; when it finishes, review the results of the scan.
If the System File Checker reports issues it can't fix, try the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) command. The service runs three health checks, but only the last one can fix errors. Still, I recommend running all three.

In an open command window with admin privileges, enter Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth at the prompt.

This command will run for a bit and then report any issues it finds. You then go to the next command to check for Component Store corruption. (Again, neither CheckHealth nor ScanHealth actually fixes anything.)
In an open admin-level command window, enter Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth at the prompt.
The final command — RestoreHealth — does attempt to automatically repair issues it finds.
Enter DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth at an admin-level command prompt"

DISM.jpg

[Jay Freedman]

All of this is properly classified as "troubleshooting". If you don't have any trouble (glitches, things that don't work, everything slow), these commands will be just a waste of time. On the other hand, they (probably) won't do any damage -- they just won't find anything that's worth fixing.

[HansV]

I agree with Jay Freedman. There is no point in running those commands unless you have serious problems with Windows.

[John Gray]

Mr HLewton - you've been reading that Susan Bradley again!
Her suggestions are to run SFC and DISM before applying/allowing a new Windows Version update, and she suggests doing a backup (presumably an 'image' backup, for maximum security) before running that series of commands.
I would suggest to run a further image backup before updating to the new Windows version...

[hlewton]

All of this is properly classified as "troubleshooting". If you don't have any trouble (glitches, things that don't work, everything slow), these commands will be just a waste of time. On the other hand, they (probably) won't do any damage -- they just won't find anything that's worth fixing.

Thank you both. This is on my one computer that I thought MS paid support had fixed. It worked fine for 19 days straight in a row and then acted up again 2 days ago. I was going to try giving these steps a shot to see if they would help. I'm a little concerned about the "(probably)" but I have no idea what else to try. I did reach MS support on Sunday to reopen the support incident and after about 20 minutes of him just looking over the notes about by situation he put me on hold and we got disconnected. The tech had promised to call me back if that happened but he never did so here I am reaching for straws again.

[JoeP]

What is "acted up"? What steps were taken before?

You should make regular system image backups regardless. None of these tools should damage your system.

[hlewton]

What is "acted up"? What steps were taken before?

You should make regular system image backups regardless. None of these tools should damage your system.

Not sure you want to, but the entire post about this problem is at this link. I will try to summarize it below the link.

http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=34280

The problem I am having is too often I have to "Restart" one of my computers before it will access the Internet correctly. When it is acting up it will take forever when trying to open up a location on the WEB. If I reboot the computer it accesses that site quickly as it should. In addition another reason I have to reboot is I cannot access this computer from others on my network. (However, when my last incident happened I could access the computer but it took forever to access the NET. By forever I mean around 15 or 20 seconds, at least, and this happened at multiple WEB sites. It normally takes less than 3 or 4 seconds.)

I am not sure exactly how many versions of Windows 10 this problem has occurred in but I do know for sure it has been at least the last 2 versions. I am now running Ver. 1909

1. I have replaced my WiFi with a new mesh system however, this computer is connected through an Ethernet cable.
2. I ran sfc /scannow.
3. Tried troubleshooting the Internet Connections
4. I have reset the network after a suggestion here at Eileens.
5. Replaced the Network card.
6. Made sure Fast Startup was disabled.


Then I called and paid for a Microsoft Technical support incident:
1. They looked at the computer’s Reliability History. Found an error caused by a program my Brother printer’s software installed called PowerENGAGE. He thought that was the culprit so I called Brother support and was given the OK to uninstall it. That did not help.
2. Next MS support person I reached made a few changes to my machine by remote control. She went so fast when editing my Start Up programs that I cannot tell you exactly which ones she disabled or set to manual but her changes did not seen to affect the operation of the computer. It worked great.
3. She also deleted many temp files by using the commands please ignore quotes: “temp”, %Temp%, and “prefetch”
This seemed to fix my problem and the computer worked great for 19 days in a row. Normally when I have had to reboot it happens about every 3 to 5 days.

So I think this updates everything I have tried and was hoping the commands I posted to start this post may be something that would help my problem

[HansV]

You can certainly try them...

[hlewton]

You can certainly try them...

Yeah I probably will. This is the first thing I've thought about doing since we ran out of ideas in the thread I linked above. Thanks.

[hlewton]

Well ran all those commands and the only thing that showed any thing out of the ordinary was the sfc /scannow command. I will attach the screenshot of it. Not sure what it all means even after opening the CBS.log file it mentions but here it is.

sfc.jpg

[John Gray]

The only important sentence is:
"Windows Source Protection found some corrupted files and successfully repaired them".

Looking through the CBS.log is even more awful than looking through event logs...

[HansV]

I agree with John. Those log files are very long and very technical.

[PaulB]

Just a thought: Have you tried a different Ethernet cable?

[hlewton]

Just a thought: Have you tried a different Ethernet cable?

Yep sure did. But thanks for the thought.

[hlewton]

The only important sentence is:
"Windows Source Protection found some corrupted files and successfully repaired them".

Looking through the CBS.log is even more awful than looking through event logs...

I agree with John. Those log files are very long and very technical.

I know. I could not make any sense of them so I quit looking about 100 lines into it. I can only hope that whatever files sfc repaired is helpful.

[JoeP]

Have you tried running Task Manager to see if something is taking over your PC when you boot?
Do you have any external devices attached which are powered off when you boot but the PC expects them to be on?
Have you checked Task Scheduler to see what might be scheduled to run at user logon?

[hlewton]

Have you tried running Task Manager to see if something is taking over your PC when you boot?
Do you have any external devices attached which are powered off when you boot but the PC expects them to be on?
Have you checked Task Scheduler to see what might be scheduled to run at user logon?

I have checked Task manager, or I should say the Microsoft technician checked it. Apparently he/she didn't see anything that was identified as a problem. I will check it again if it happens again but not really sure what to look for.

There are no external devices attached to this computer.

I did not check Task Scheduler and I am not certain the technician did but I think he did. Again, I am not sure what I'd be looking for in the Task Scheduler. I know the technician made changes to my start up programs but can't say what those changes were. She went too fast.