Getting unstuck sometimes requires a little key combination magic. Credit: Yan Krukau / Pexels From time to time, certain key elements in the Windows 10 or 11 user interface can go dormant. You click on or touch the Start menu icon, or other icons in the taskbar, and nothing happens. Keep trying, but nothing keeps happening. This can be anywhere from frustrating to infuriating. Thankfully, there’s an extremely easy fix for this sort of behavior, as I will soon explain. No need to restart, though that works, too One ingrained response in many Windows users when the UI starts misbehaving is to restart their computers. And indeed, that does work to fix a nonresponsive Start menu or taskbar icons. But it takes time — at least a minute for most PC users — and can derail your productivity. Because File Explorer handles processing for the Start menu and the taskbar, including its notification area, there’s a simpler, faster fix worth trying before you pull out the big gun. If you press the key combination Alt-Shift-Esc or right-click an empty area in the taskbar, you can launch the Task Manager utility quickly and easily. Figure 1 shows the right-click pop-up menu in Windows 11 (left) and Windows 10 (right), from which you should select the Task Manager item to run that tool. Figure 1: Right-click taskbar options in Windows 11 (left) are far fewer than in Windows 10 (right). In either, pick Task Manager. Ed Tittel / Foundry Use Task Manager to restart File Explorer After Task Manager starts up, look for the entry named “Windows Explorer” under the “Apps” heading (see Figure 2). Even though the app itself is named “File Explorer,” it’s shown up as “Windows Explorer” in Task Manager since Windows 95 made its debut 30 years ago. Figure 2: Right-click on Windows Explorer, then click Restartin the pop-up menu (2nd from top). Ed Tittel / Foundry If you don’t see Windows Explorer listed in Task Manager, no worries. Simply launch an instance of File Explorer. If you can’t do that from the taskbar or Start menu, use the Windows key + R shortcut. This opens the Windows run box, inside which you can type explorer (or explorer.exe). Once launched, it appears in Task Manager as Windows Explorer under the Apps heading as shown above. Right-clicking Windows Explorer and selecting Restart from the menu that appears usually restores the Start menu and the taskbar to normal operation. This can take up to 30 seconds to complete, so wait for the taskbar to reappear before resuming normal Windows activity. That said, this restart is much faster than restarting Windows. Don’t be surprised when you see the taskbar go blank and all icons disappear. This is a normal side effect of restarting File Explorer. Before it can be restarted, it must first be stopped — and when it’s stopped, all those UI elements disappear temporarily. However disconcerting this may be, it won’t last long. As soon as the File Explorer process restarts, it restores the Start menu and taskbar icons and the UI behaviors they support. In the vast majority of cases, that will fix whatever caused the Start menu or taskbar icons to stop responding to user inputs via mouse or touch — and you can get back to work. The old fallback If that doesn’t do the trick, then it’s time to restart Windows. If the usual techniques (e.g., Start > Power button > Restart) don’t work, you can use Windows key + R and type the command shutdown /r /t 0 into the run box. (Warning! The /t 0 setting means Windows will restart immediately, so save what work you can before taking this route.) This article was originally published in July 2021 and updated in July 2025. More Windows how-tos: How to fix a Windows black screen 6 steps to recover missing data in Windows How to troubleshoot and reset Windows Update Windows PowerToys: Your handy productivity toolbox WinGet: The best way to keep Windows apps updated SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe