Windows 8.1 home screen icons not showing up

[Lily x]

On my laptop something has gone wrong with a loads of my applications and the homescreen apps (ie. skype, the news app, calender etc)
I have no idea what has happened, on the homescreen they appear as empty boxes and when i try to open said apps it just gives me a blank screen and I have no idea what I have done to cause it and how to fix it.
If anyone knows how I can sort it please tell me.

 

[freakworld]

i assume your restarted your pc already?

because this sounds like what happens when explorer.exe (the windows explorer) doesnt work correctly

you could check in task manager if its still running, assuming you can still get to the task manager (which should work iirc)

 

[Lily x]

I tried restarting and have run a system scan
I checked task manager and I didn't see explorer.exe running, so that may be the problem, I have no idea how to fix that though.
Edit: wait no, windows explorer is running, and I restarted it and it's still broken.
Would screenshots make it easier?

 

[freakworld]

yes

 

[Lily x]

here

basically, normally where it says 'microsoft.windows.live.mail' it would say 'mail' and have a letter icon, and when i try to open any of the apps it doesn't work.
I should mention it has been like that for a few days and I haven't worked out how to fix it.

 

[Paper Jorge]

interesting

i dont know windows 8 much, but if this problems recent enough, try a restore point

 

[freakworld]

i know i use win8.1 myself

before it turned this way, did you update your os/any drivers? or did you install anynew software immediatly before this?

if so you could try to restore to an older backup of your pc (its somewhere under system settings)

if its still broken theres a good chance something is wrong with your graphics card or something

aaand ninja

 

[Lily x]

i know i use win8.1 myself

before it turned this way, did you update your os/any drivers? or did you install anynew software immediatly before this?

if so you could try to restore to an older backup of your pc (its somewhere under system settings)

if its still broken theres a good chance something is wrong with your graphics card or something

aaand ninja

I don't recall doing anything except I did a system cleanup and it was fine after that, and I moved a few files. I can try to find a restore point though
EDIT: and I tried restore but the only restore point was from yesterday and yesterday it was like that as it messed up a few days ago so yeah.

 

[Paper Jorge]

worst case scenario; save your files elsewhere and do a full reinstall of windows 8 (or upgrade to windows 7 lmao)

 

[freakworld]

worst case scenario; save your files elsewhere and do a full reinstall of windows 8 (or upgrade to windows 7 lmao)

pretty much this

 

[Lily x]

worst case scenario; save your files elsewhere and do a full reinstall of windows 8 (or upgrade to windows 7 lmao)

pretty much this

eh, I don't know if I could do that as it would take a long time.
I am hoping there is another way to fix it before I have to go to that tbh.

 

[freakworld]

maybe google then but if its not an appearent error with any programs and you cannot restore to a restore point theres maybe no way around it

tldr i dont know what else it could be

 

[Dardy]

Few questions and few suggestions:

Have you installed any new programs? Have you gone to any unsafe websites? Sometimes they can install malware and other unwanted stuff, check your installed programs and uninstall anything you are not familiar with.

Do you get any kind of messages other than a black screen? like even a message with "This app can't open"?

Did you try to load the icons from the Apps screen (that down arrow in the menu)? Is it blank too? Did you try to remove the apps' icons and pin them again?

 

[Lily x]

Few questions and few suggestions:

Have you installed any new programs? Have you gone to any unsafe websites? Sometimes they can install malware and other unwanted stuff, check your installed programs and uninstall anything you are not familiar with.
no

Do you get any kind of messages other than a black screen? like even a message with "This app can't open"?
no, it comes up with a coloured screen and then dissapears
Did you try to load the icons from the Apps screen (that down arrow in the menu)? Is it blank too? Did you try to remove the apps' icons and pin them again?
Same happens