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Photos app freezes my laptop

Photos app freezes

Best Answer OZDOUG , 24 November 2018 - 04:47 PM

Time on this site is never wasted Dr!!  I thank you for your support on this of course. I tried disabling the app running in the background (Settings, Privacy, App Permissions, Background... Go to the full post »


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#1
OZDOUG

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Hello....me again!

Over the last few days the Photos app on my laptop will start up & freeze the machine. I have been running Task manager after the first couple of times to see what was happening & it is almost always the Photos app at the top of the list. The only variation is that it freezes with 'Microsoft.Photos.exe' at top of the Task Manager list.

Photos App Task Manager.jpg

I went in to the Settings options for this app & ran through the available choices of Terminate, Repair & Reset & rebooted after each choice but still keeps coming back. Uninstall is sadly not an option!

Photos App Settings.JPG

Sometimes it will freeze after a few minutes, or an hour or so. I am 99% sure it also only happens when I am online.

 

I did due diligence & tried to see if this problem has been raised online in any forums but it seems others are only discussing problems with the app itself, not the app causing problems. 

 

As usual your sage advise would be welcome!!


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#2
OZDOUG

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Just to update......

The app never actually ran or started but it kept coming up in Task Manager as running.

 

This afternoon I decided to run the app & see what happened........it froze after about 2secs. Re-booted & tried the same thing.....froze again.

 

Re-booted & then checked any Microsoft forums & it seemed this is not an unknown problem. One suggestion was to run Troubleshooter on it. This I did then it directed me to do the same things I had done earlier. Machine seemed to be working nicely for most of the afternoon. 

 

So I got brave & ran the app again. This time it took about 10secs to freeze up so that's some improvement!

 

The good thing is that my web time seems to run without problems for now so I will let the machine burble away on the table & see if anything happens........


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#3
SpywareDr

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http://www.geekstogo...ezes-my-laptop/


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#4
OZDOUG

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Thanks for that Dr......& sorry about the double post on this topic! When I hit the button the first time nothing seemed to happen so I hit it again....now have a double post!
 
With respect I am unsure how changeing the icon/thumbnail option would of been effective. Would that only be applicable when I open File Explorer? I did test it by opening folders with pic thumbnails in them & Photos did not appear at all in Task Manager......
 
I think I have cleared the problem of the app coming up in Task Manager after running the Troubleshooter option & doing the Terminate, Reset & Repair actions. Machine has been running hassle free now for about 12hrs +.
 
Feeling curious I ran the Photos app again & it ran up for about 10secs then froze the machine. After a reboot I made the icon/thumbnail option change & ran up the app again. It ran again for about 10secs then froze the machine. The reboot didn't work correctly so I had to do a battery reset then the machine ran up OK. 
 
I think I will just avoid the Photos app altogether for now....I never use it anyway!

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#5
SpywareDr

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Disabling the thumbnail option relieves Explorer from having to create thumbnails, which can dramatically slow down down some computers. It is especially noticeable on those with not enough RAM and working from spinning platter hard drives.


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#6
OZDOUG

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All understood Dr. I'm running an Acer laptop with an SSD which has been fine for some months since I bought it. I did try that icon/thumbnails option but the machine still froze up when the app came up in Task Manager.

 

Unfortunately I also spoke too soon about everything seeming to be OK.....had 3 freezes yesterday afternoon....2 with the app showing in TM & one with a Windows update being run & then the app started in TM. The app never actually starts up, just the process showing in TM. 


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#7
OZDOUG

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Just realised I should try turning off the background apps option in Settings, Privacy, Background Apps. Did that so now watching the machine & TM to see what happens!  Fingers crossed!!  


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#8
SpywareDr

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I'm running an Acer laptop with an SSD ...

 

Ah, wish I had known that. Wouldn't have wasted your time, or mine.

 

Best of luck.


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#9
OZDOUG

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✓  Best Answer

Time on this site is never wasted Dr!!  I thank you for your support on this of course.

 

I tried disabling the app running in the background (Settings, Privacy, App Permissions, Background apps) & I think that has done the trick!!

 

....still don't understand why it was happening when I have a 2nd almost identical machine & it is running happily......Oh well I think problem solved for now!  :yeah:

 

Thanks again!!   :spoton:


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