Very strange Win 10 copy/paste issue

[Derwins Revenge]

Hi, I don't post in this sub-forum much but hoping for some help!

I've got a very strange copy and paste issue that only effects MS/Office 365 apps (I use them all day at work). After starting up around 9:00am, by about 4:30pm I will no longer be able to copy and paste. No error messages, it just simply won't copy. At the same time as this happens, I start getting strange black graphical artifacts in File Explorer - on folders, address fields etc. There's no slow down or any other problems.

A restart fixes it. But it's bloody annoying having to do that so close to the end of the day just to finish what I'm working on (job involves lots of writing, so copy and paste essential).

Now, as this is on my work computer we have had our IT agency on it for months (at considerable cost no doubt), but they haven't been able to fix it, even in co-operation with MS support.

To be honest, I wouldn't normally come here asking for help for a work issue. But, I have worked at home a few times in the last few months and the same thing is happening there. The home PC itself is fine and used quite intensively for other stuff (mostly Project Cars ).

On both PCs I'm anti-virus and malware protected up to the hilt, but something is nagging at me that as it's two of my PC's, something dodgy is happening. Nobody else has the issue in the office and laptops at home that are nothing to do with me seem fine.

I've Google'd for hours and can find nobody with the exact same problem, so just throwing it out there in case anyone here has any thoughts on what could be going on. The best the IT agency could come up was a complete rebuild of the PC, which I'm not keen on as they'll probably just introduce more issues. And the fact that it's only MS/Office apps with the issue makes me think it's not hardware related. Possibly previous copied files aren't being dumped so maybe it is a memory issue, but I can copy in paste in Chrome for instance - you'd think that a memory issue wouldn't be application specific.

I do know we should probably be looking for a new IT agency if my only recourse to this problem is to come on a car forum and ask for help!

Has anyone got any suggestions?

TLDR; copy and paste stops working after about 7.5 hours on MS/Office 365 apps. Can anybody help?

[budgie smuggler]

Could be many things. Quickest answer is buy a new PC and install Office from scratch.

More full answer. IT agency should have already done all of these.

-Check the event viewer for any weird entries which tie in with the times when either of the problems start occurring
-run memtest86 or similar over night to check for memory errors
-run sfc and check there is no damage to system files
-check for new drivers for all hardware using windows update. Or if you can, try using snappy driver installer it will grab newest drivers available for absolutely all hardware in its library in one go
-check for any software which interferes with the clipboard .eg. vmware, virtual box, rdp, teamviewer etc
-failing that run getOpenClipboardWindow to see which process is locking the clipboard ( http://windowsxp.mvps.org/temp/GetOpenClipboardWin... )

[sgrimshaw]

How do you copy/paste?

From the right click menu?

From the icons in MS Office?

Using the keyboard and CTRL-C / CTRL-V?

Does it stop working with all three methods?

[3200gt]

I have a similar issue with copying worksheets. the only "workaround" I have so far found is when it starts happening I save a copy as XXXXcopy1 then close the original and then work on the copy1. When complete, save the copy, delete the original and rename the copy back to XXXX

[Derek Smith]

3200gt said:

I have a similar issue with copying worksheets. the only "workaround" I have so far found is when it starts happening I save a copy as XXXXcopy1 then close the original and then work on the copy1. When complete, save the copy, delete the original and rename the copy back to XXXX

I had this problem on Word. It started around two or three months ago but got no worse. I too found restarting answered all the problems, apart from the one about having to restart of course. I found it did not occur on Libre Office. Also, it would refuse to save to the particular partition that any copy had been opened from, saying the disc was full.

None of the problems manifested themselves on Google Docs.

I then had problems with my Registry. I had that fixed and via Windows I did a back to basics reinstall of 10. I've have had no repetition of either problem in three weeks. My first assumption was that the errors were registry based, but I know very little about the black arts.

[Beetnik]

The fact that it's only on the two machines you use and no-one else's at work or home strongly suggests it's something you've introduced to both machine's - i.e. malware.

[4x4Tyke]

The restart fixing it is a strong indication of some kind of resource exhaustion. The copy and paste problem is likely a result of the problem not the cause.

Do you only use Office or any other software? Outlook is notorious for its memory leaks, and I've seem pretty bad leaks in Cisco's VPN software. Update/Patch to the latest versions might help.

Take a look at the task/resource manager when it starts happening. Look at Processes and Services, sort them by size and see if anything stands out.

http://www.howtogeek.com/108742/how-to-use-the-new...

If that doesn't reveal anything then try Process Explorer from Microsoft System Internals suite.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals

Edited by 4x4Tyke on Thursday 8th December 19:43

[Derwins Revenge]

budgie smuggler said:

Could be many things. Quickest answer is buy a new PC and install Office from scratch.

More full answer. IT agency should have already done all of these.

-Check the event viewer for any weird entries which tie in with the times when either of the problems start occurring
-run memtest86 or similar over night to check for memory errors
-run sfc and check there is no damage to system files
-check for new drivers for all hardware using windows update. Or if you can, try using snappy driver installer it will grab newest drivers available for absolutely all hardware in its library in one go
-check for any software which interferes with the clipboard .eg. vmware, virtual box, rdp, teamviewer etc
-failing that run getOpenClipboardWindow to see which process is locking the clipboard ( http://windowsxp.mvps.org/temp/GetOpenClipboardWin... )

Thanks for all the replies, there's plenty for me to try out here.

@Budgie Smuggler, I'm pretty sure the IT agency have done none of what you suggested as they only ever do stuff via Teamviewer and I'm present for that. Definitely no overnight stuff. So I'll go through all your suggestions to see what comes up.

@sgrimshaw, i usually ctrl c / ctrl v, but it makes no difference how I try to copy / paste once the problem has started.

@Beetnik, that's what worries me but scans don't turn anything up and I'm pretty hot on not opening unsolicited email attachments etc. And no smut sites at work

@ash73, thanks, pretty sure I've gone through that thread but will have another look.

@4x4Tyke, funny you should say about Cisco's VPN software. I installed some quite a while ago to try to access a client's intranet. It never worked and their IT dept couldn't fathom it out so we gave up. But the software is still installed. Will look into it and also check Process Explorer when the issue happens next (tomorrow no doubt). That's usually my first port of call with a home PC prob, just didn't think about doing it at work.

Thanks all, will let you know how it goes.

[eatontrifles]

Try disabling hardware graphics acceleration in Office apps;
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/2768648

[gr1340]

Are you running it over Citrix?

We have had problems for years using Citrix as often the copy and paste will stop working between Citrix and non Citrix apps. There is a fix but we still don't seem to have fully implemented it, we just have a repair clipboard app.