Windows 11 users complain of taskbar, Start menu, and performance issues with KB5034765 update

If you were waiting for another problematic Windows update to brighten up your week, Microsoft has come up with the goods again.

The KB5034765 update was released for Windows 11 earlier this week and it seems to be causing more than its fair share of issues for a lot of people who have installed it. Microsoft is yet to acknowledge any problems, but users on Reddit have a litany of complaints.

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Among the problems people say they have been experiencing are a disappearing taskbar, a non-functioning Start menu, and graphical glitches across the Windows UI. Other complaints include the lengthy display of the "updates are underway" message, BSoDs, sluggish performance and more.

With Microsoft yet to admit that the update has any issues, there are no official fixes as yet. But reports from users show that using Task Manager to kill the explorer.exe process can help alleviate some problems, but it may only be a temporary solution. A better option appears to be simply uninstalling the KB5034765 update.

Microsoft's Jen Gentleman suggests uninstalling the KB5034765 update, restarting Windows and then reinstalling the same update. This is as close as we have to an acknowledgement of problem or the provision of an official solution.

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