The “Unknown Hard” error that keeps on appearing in Windows 10 can put users in an unpleasant situation. This kind of error leads to the freezing of the taskbar, blackening of the screen, and sudden disappearance of the icons on the Desktop. And each time you try to open Windows, the system will only give you an error message saying that it’s a critical error and some applications like Start and Cortana won’t work.
Upon analysis, it seems that the “sihost.exe” is not responding and that it is the one that’s causing the c000021a Unknown Hard error to pop up. Sihost.exe files represent the Shell Infrastructure Host which is an essential component in the Windows operating system. The Windows Shell Infrastructure Host is primarily responsible for handling some graphical elements of the operating system interface such as the Start menu and the taskbar transparency. And so if the Shell Infrastructure or Sihost.exe has stopped, has been removed, or corrupted, you will most likely have issues with the overall functionality of the Windows operating system and you’ll get the Unknown Hard error
In addition, the ctfmom.exe Unknown Hard error may also occur due to incompatible drivers installed on your PC. Ctfmom is a process that identifies inputs such as handwriting, languages, and many more. It’s the one that controls the functions of background behavior. To resolve this issue, you need to first try to identify which application is the one that’s running the sihost.exe file. And if needed, you need to either update or reinstall or completely uninstall the problematic application.
Option 1 – Try to run the System File Checker
The SFC Scan or System File Checker, us a built-in utility in Microsoft Windows that can be found in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. This tool allows users to scan and restore any corrupted system files in Windows that might be causing the Unknown Hard error to appear. Before you use this tool, make sure to find out whether the sihost.exe on your computer is a Trojan that you have to remove or if it’s a file that belongs to a trusted Windows application. Once you have that sorted out, follow the steps below.
- Tap Win + R to launch Run.
- Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
- After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow
The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:
- Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
- Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
- Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
Option 2 – Try to use System Restore
You can also try using System Restore. This is one of the ways you can use it to back up your PC. Since restore points are created automatically each week by System Restore, you can use System Restore to restore your computer back to an earlier good point in time.
Option 3 – Try to troubleshoot the error in a Clean Boot State
Putting your PC in a Clean Boot state can help you diagnose and troubleshoot the issues in your system. During this state, you can start the system with a minimum number of drivers and startup programs that will surely help you in isolating the root cause of the Unknown Hard Error.
- Log onto your PC as an administrator.
- Type in MSConfig in the Start Search to open the System Configuration utility.
- From there, go to the General tab and click “Selective startup”.
- Clear the “Load Startup items” checkbox and make sure that the “Load System Services” and “Use Original boot configuration” options are checked.
- Next, click the Services tab and select the “Hide All Microsoft Services” checkbox.
- Click Disable all.
- Click on Apply/OK and restart your PC. (This will put your PC into a Clean Boot State. And configure Windows to use the usual startup, just simply undo the changes.)
After putting your PC in a Clean Boot State, try creating a system restore point and see if the problem still occurs. Clean Boot troubleshooting is designed to help you isolate the problem. For you to execute a clean boot troubleshooting, you must do a couple of actions (the steps are given above) and then restart your PC after every action. You might have to disable one third-party app after the other to really isolate the issue. And once you’ve narrowed down the problem, you can either disable the third-party app that’s causing the problem or remove it. Note that you must switch your PC back into the Normal Startup mode after you’re done troubleshooting the problem. Here’s how you can do it:
- From the “Start” menu, go to System Configuration.
- After that, switch to the General tab and click the option for “Normal Startup”.
- Next, go to the Services tab and clear the checkbox for “Hide all Microsoft services”.
- Then find and click “Enable all” and if prompted, you have to confirm.
- Afterward, go to the Task Manager and enable all the Startup programs and confirm the action.
- Restart your PC when prompted.
Following are proven solutions that will resolve the issue and provide you with a working device.
If we are to believe news from Intel, new series of processors based on Alder Lake architecture are about to be released somewhere in October. Alder Lake is the 12th Generation Core of Intel processors and it is meant to have all advantages of the current CPU structure.
I9 is aimed to pack a punch against its competitors with technology including eight high-performance Golden Cove cores (P-cores) with Hyper-Threading and eight energy-efficient Goldmont (E-cores) equipped with a 30MB L3 cache and operating at high clock speeds.
During the benchmark test, the new CPU outperformed all of Intel’s previous Rocket Lake structure processors which is logically expected but the big surprise came from results that indicate better performance than Apple’s new M1 processor even in single-threaded performance which is supposed to be best in that field.
Another surprise was really beating AMD Ryzen 9 in each field. If we take into account that i9 has 16 cores in total and can process 24 threads against Ryzen 9 with 16 Cores and 32 threads this is an impressive feature.
Now truth to be told Alder lake has massive L3 cache and microarchitectural advantages and consumes much more power but the results of performance are high. Also, note that this early CPU is not really a mass production one and maybe some things will still change but early results are very satisfactory.
We will see what will price tag be since in this age of shortage and competition that will also play a big role in its overall success. Speaking of competition I eagerly await AMD’s response to this, in any way it seems that the CPU market is for some turbulence which is always a good thing for the final customer and I welcome it. 
REevil is one of the most active and successful hacking groups connected to Russia and operating all over the world. The group recently demanded a huge bitcoin ransom for an attack targeting IT firm Kaseya in the USA.
Since Tuesday blog and payment site run by REvil group cannot be longer reached without any kind of explanation or why.
The reason behind the disappearance is unknown but has sparked speculation that the group may have been targeted deliberately by authorities.
US President Joe Biden said he raised the issue with Vladimir Putin during a phone call on Friday, after discussing the subject during a summit with the Russian president in Geneva last month.
Mr. Biden told reporters that he had "made it very clear to him...we expect them to act" on information and also hinted the US could take direct digital retaliation on servers used for intrusions.
The timing of Tuesday's outage has sparked speculation that either the US or Russian officials may have taken action against REvil - though officials have so far declined to comment and cyber experts say sudden disappearances of groups are not necessarily uncommon.
The development comes after a series of high-profile ransomware attacks which have hit major US businesses this year.
The FBI accused REvil - also known as Sodinokibi - of being behind a ransomware attack on the world's largest meat processing company JBS last month. 
This, of course, means that you will be able to have both Proton and Windows on your device letting you play anything that you wish if the hardware is strong enough. Valve also said that you can launch OS from an SD card! This of course will save space available for games themselves, especially for entry models with less than one available.
All of this information really pushes Deck into the territory of a handheld PC and not just another console and I must admit that this announcement left a smile on my face. 
Inside run dialog type Powershell and press ENTER
In the Powershell type in the following command and press ENTER
