Question All windows apps stopped working

[askingcarpet22]

Ok so, out of nowhere, my pc has shown a pretty damn specific set of problems, including what's on the title.
For starters, none of the system apps work. Be it Settings, Control panel, services.msc, regedit. Most of them just show up on the task manager but never truly open ,while settings opens, but as soon as i click any option it freezes. On the other hand, I cannot use any internet browser. Firefox will just show that it's loading whatever url i chose but it stays at the home page forever. Same thing with edge. My internet connection is fine since i can use steam and its browser, just not firefox or edge. I also tried installing malwarebytes just in case (i haven't downloaded anything sketchy ever since i built this pc 3 months ago) but same as windows apps, it just shows up at the task manager but won't open.
I can't even go to recovery to go back to a restore point or anything and i have no idea what could be causing this, since i didn't install any windows updates recently. It just started happening overnight.
Any ideas?

 

[wpgwpg]

Windows also has Internet Explorer, so you could try that. Click Start and type IE to get to it.
What was the last thing you did before the problem occurred?
Since this could be caused by a number of things, try these things to try to zero in on the problem:
- Scan for viruses
- Get the free version of Malware Bytes and scan for malware.
- Open an administrative command prompt and tun these two commands:
. SFC /scannow
. Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

 

[askingcarpet22]

Windows also has Internet Explorer, so you could try that. Click Start and type IE to get to it.
What was the last thing you did before the problem occurred?
Since this could be caused by a number of things, try these things to try to zero in on the problem:

• Scan for viruses
• Get the free version of Malware Bytes and scan for malware.
• Open an administrative command prompt and tun these two commands:

. SFC /scannow
. Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

I did download malwarebytes, but just like most apps, it shows up in task manager but never opens. Still, i don't think it's malware. The computer is 3 months old and i haven't downloaded anything outside of steam and official websites. I'll try the command prompt thing, but it only allows me to open regular cmd, powershell or admin powershell. Would admin powershell work or do i need to use admin cmd?

 

[wpgwpg]

I believe Admin Powershell should work, although the commands may be a little different. I've always been able to use the administrative command prompt, so I haven't bothered to get into Powershell to do what I already know how to do the old fashioned way.

Update: OK I just tried it from an administrative Powershell window, and both commands worked there just fine.