Norton 360 update "Closing applications..." hoses Microsoft Store?

On 11/1/21 I ran Norton 360 LiveUpdate.  At the end, it reported that a patch needed to be installed.  I clicked the "Install now" button (which usually doesn't work, but I thought I'd try).  It closed applications successfully, and apparently installed the patch.  At the end of the day, I shut Windows down.

The next day I booted up normally, but noticed after a few hours that Microsoft Store wasn't working correctly.  The "View Reliability History" in Control Panel showed many Critical Event entries like this:

     WinStore.App.exe   Stopped responding...

the first one appearing around boot-up time on the day after the patch install.  Ah well, maybe time will fix the problem.

But same thing the next day, after another round of shutdown/start.

At that point, on a hunch, I decided to restart Windows, since this doesn't do the phony "fast shutdown/fast start" stuff, but instead does a true shutdown.  Poof, Microsoft Store worked great as soon as the computer was back up.

Is there a chance that Norton 360's patch installation on 11/1/21, the day before I noticed the problems with Microsoft Store, somehow left certain applications (like Store) in a "weird state"?  After all, on-line patch installation does do that "Closing applications..." step.

I'm running Windows 10 Pro 20H2 on a 64-bit Dell desktop of recent vintage, with Norton 360 version 22.21.10.40.  Microsoft Store is version 12107.1001.15.0.

 

What you recommend jibes with my experience. I’ve noticed that often when LiveUpdate finds a patch for Norton 360, several rounds of LiveUpdate, with shutdown/start in between, are needed before things finally settle back down again (i.e. LiveUpdate stops claiming that a restart is required).

I also think I’ll stop letting LiveUpdate try to “install patch now”, as opposed to just waiting till the next reboot. It almost always fails due to difficulties stopping all applications (typically igfex or some such), and now I’ve found that even if it appears to succeed, things can apparently get messed up until a “clean re-boot” is performed!

Thank you for the feedback.

Most software updates, including Windows, often require a full system restart to completely update any running system files/drivers. When you just do the LiveUpdate and there is a Patch, it is always recommended to restart the system to complete the update. Then run LiveUpdate manually a few times, restarting as necessary, until no updates are available? Then restart again. 

I have found that if I have strange behaviour on my system, there is often a Windows update waiting to be finished. Restarting gets that done.