Why do I get "Restart required" message every time I boot up?

I am indeed running Windows 10. I have not been using a password and have not been aware of any limit of basic functions, so I guess that limited "guest" access to the computer is not the case. You do not specify what the screenshot should capture.

I have visited Settings - Accounts and specified a login option (PIN). I still get the "Restart required" message at boot-up.

BTW: I have had this laptop for over a year now and this started happening a month or so ago.

Sorry Guy - I committed the cardinal sin of not reading your post correctly. This is a Windows Update problem as Jayeff rightly observes and the Update Troubleshooter is the first port of call, though it doesn't seem very good at sorting out real world problems.

However, I now recall that I had what I think was the same problem with the Fall Creators Update which cost me a lot of grief. The problem was that the computer in question had Veracrypt full disk encryption installed, which has to patch the kernel in order to do its job - not a great thing to do but since Microsoft doesn't expose the hooks needed there's no alternative. Antivirus tends to do the same sort of thing for the same reasons.

The problem is that Windows Update has provided a new kernel module which is marked as to replace the current one on the next reboot, but every time it tries to do so it finds that someone else has already got their teeth into it and so can't. So it says yet again, reboot needed!

(Comment overflowed max size!)In my case I had to decrypt the hard disk and uninstall Veracrypt before the update would finish correctly, then reinstall Veracrypt. (If a disk encryption utility is your problem then after re-encrypting, clear free space using Ccleaner from Piriform - Tools - Drive Wiper - Free Space Only or Sdelete from Sysinternals.com, as otherwise you may have residual unencrypted sensitive data on your disk.)

Hopefully it may only be your antivirus that you need to uninstall and reinstall, which would be a bit less painful. Consider choosing a different one as the same problem may recur. (Do you know about Sophos Home? Free for home use and completely nag-free as they don't have a paid-for home product.)

Of course, malware is the other thing that patches the kernel - that's exactly what a rootkit does in order to hide itself. If your current antivirus doesn't detect it, try one that runs from bootable media such as Kasperky Rescue Disk.

Hi @pleriche ,

FYI re ifixit comments character allowance.

A work around is to start comment for a hundred or so characters (or whatever number under the permitted max) then post that comment. After that click on 'edit' in your comment (when you hover the cursor over the comment) and then continue your comment. There doesn't seem to be a max number of characters then. Bit harder to re- read the comment before you re-submit it though.

Cheers.