The fast way to fix a frozen Start menu or taskbar in Windows
Briefly

If Windows Explorer is missing from Task Manager, users can launch it via the Run dialog by pressing Windows key + R and typing explorer or explorer.exe. To restore normal operation of the Start menu and taskbar, right-click Windows Explorer in Task Manager and select Restart. This process may take up to 30 seconds and results in a temporary blank taskbar and disappearing icons, which is a normal side effect of restarting File Explorer.
If Windows Explorer is not visible in Task Manager, launch it using the Windows key + R shortcut and type explorer or explorer.exe.
Restarting Windows Explorer can restore the Start menu and taskbar functionality much faster than a full Windows restart, taking about 30 seconds.
When restarting File Explorer, the taskbar may go blank and icons disappear, but this is temporary and normal during the restart process.
Read at Computerworld
[
|
]