What to do when your Windows 10 apps don’t work properly

The Windows Store is more integrated than ever before in Windows 10. It is also more stable and reliable than before but that doesn’t mean nothing ever goes wrong. Today’s computer repair post is all about those times when Windows 10 apps don’t work properly.

If you use any Windows 10 apps like Skype, Calendar, Calculator or Weather having them suddenly work without good reason is a real pain. They may open and immediately close, not open at all or not do anything when open. Either way, the one way to fix it is to reset the Windows Store cache. While that may sound involved, it is actually very easy to do.

Reset the Windows Store cache in Windows 10

The Windows Store cache is where all of the app store settings and apps are kept. If anything happens to a file or setting within the cache, it can stop that app or other apps from working properly. Resetting it is a simple way to refresh the entire Windows Store without damaging anything. It is also the best way to get those apps working again.

You will need to turn on Windows Firewall for this to work even if you use a third-party program. Windows Store is tightly integrated into Windows Firewall and hasn’t yet cottoned onto the fact that most users have better firewalls installed. For this to work, you will need to enable Windows Firewall temporarily. You can disable it again afterwards if you like.

1. Right click the Windows Taskbar and select Task Manager.
2. Select the Services tab and the Open Services text link at the bottom.
3. Navigate to the Windows Firewall service, right click and select Start.
4. Type or paste ‘WSReset.exe’ into the Search Windows/Cortana box.
5. Select WSReset.exe from the menu and allow the process to complete.

The WSReset process will bring up a command line window. You may see nothing happen but behind the scenes the Windows Store cache is being refreshed. After a few seconds the Windows App Store should appear and your apps should work as normal.

If you turned on Windows Firewall to make this happen, now would be a good time to turn it off again. Two firewalls can work together but can slow down network traffic. I would suggest only using a single firewall at a time.

For the vast majority of Windows app issues, resetting the Windows Store cache should address it. If for some reason it doesn’t, bring your computer to Dave’s Computers in New Jersey. We will be able to fix it for you.