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A dozen of Windows 8 users are complaining that a Windows 8 update causes the Start Screen to freeze, while all the other apps fail to respond.

While Microsoft is yet to confirm the problem, it appears that most consumers affected by the issue have deployed an official Windows 8 update, although some of them are actually claiming that all problems appeared two or three days after the update has been installed.


“Suddenly, I can't get the Start screen to respond. I'm unable to launch apps, access the Charms bar, etc. By pressing WinKey + D multiple times, I am able to get the Desktop to load. Once loaded, the Desktop seems OK though I can't access Charms from it either,” a user explains.

There’s no workaround for the problem, but support engineer Praseetha K Nair suggests that it could all be because of recent software or hardware changes on the system, so he recommends to try disabling some startup programs and services and booting into Safe Mode.

The only way to solve the problem and get back to a working Windows 8 machine seems to be the System Restore tool that allows users to roll back to a previous restore point.

“I have the same problem after installing a few Windows 8 updates. The solution that worked for me is to immediately go into the Desktop after Windows 8 loads. Then, run the System Restore utility and restore the system to a date before the updates were installed,” another user wrote on the support forums.

If you’re experiencing the same problem and you want to try the workaround provided by Praseetha K Nair, click here to view the step-by-step instructions.

We’ve already contacted Microsoft to ask for an official workaround for this problem, so we’ll keep you posted.