Task bar - Icons flickering when online

Thanks ... will go for that 'reload' first ...

monkey44 wrote:
Can you refresh my memory about how to 'reload video drivers" ... is that from the original install disc, or online? Step x step would help ...

If you still want to know...

I am on Windows Vista but I don't think it matters.

I just went thru the process to create this step-by-step. This will work to update or refresh - either one - just make the appropriate selection.

===
Right click My Computer
Select Manage
Select Device Manager
(this will display a list of all devices on/connected to your PC)

Double click Display Adapters
Hilight then right click your graphic driver chipset
Select Update Driver Software (if you select Properties/Driver Tab - you will see options to update the existing drivers)

You will be provided with 2 options:
- Search automatically for updated driver software
- Browse my computer for driver software

I always select Search my computer first. The reason is if you perform Windows updates on a regular basis you may get the latest drivers from Microsoft and more likely compatible with your Operating System.

If it indicates Your drivers are up to date - you can go ahead and search the internet also. It may not be necessary.

I had to do this with my Network Adapter - used the first choice - searching my PC - found the driver - updated and fixed my problem. I could not get to the internet without a network plugin chip installed. Now it works fine.
===

Tom_M wrote:

1995brave wrote:
Reload your video drivers and see if it helps. Here at work we had one of Microsofts Win 7 updates overwrite a section where the video drivers were loaded and caused all sorts of video problems. We reloaded the video drivers and everything started working fine.

I think a better term would be "display drivers". It has nothing to do with playing video. It's drivers for your graphics card.

No, it IS NOT GRAPHICS DRIVER RELATED, IT IS most likely a problem with Win 7 EXPLORER (the DESKTOP EXPLORER, not IE) since 2009...

READ the bottom several posts in the link below

WIN 7 FLASHING TASK BAR

For those too lazy, I am including the text which points to the "fix"..

"Hi All,

Hehehe replying a bit late on the problem,

But FYI i am experiencing the same problem on my end, the entire taskbar (windows and IE and/or Mozilla) both flash, This is not local application issues its not a program attempting to notify the user for input or a process in the system tray, and definity not related to Adobe flash player as its effecting both the internet browser application and the windows explorer.

Background:

I have been running Windows 7 on my laptop for almost 2 years now and recently performed a OS rebuild several months back, the problem starting occuring soon after the rebuild.



Problem:

The problem is not caused by a local application - Not Flash player, not Beta software, it is a Windows! Yes! a windows issue. The problem is will the windows Explorer.exe - The windows shell

The issue is caused by the windows shell, all windows-based applications use the shell, the shell is a user interface and provides an environment for applications and has now become unstable most likely corrupt and will eventually lead to OS failure. I would recommend the following options to take:



1) Recreate user Profile:

C:\users\%username%

"Log in as local admin, rename the effected user account to %username%.OLD and copy all user data from .old to a newly created profile %username%

2) Recreate explorer.exe

SAFEMODE ONLY

Open Regedit

HKEY LM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

There is a key called Shell - explorer.exe

rename key to explorer.exe1

restart

windows should attempted to created a new key for the shell

WARNING *** this also may cause the shell to fail and windows GUI environment fail to load, so take care***

3) Rebuild

I would recommend option 1 if the problem continues, reinstall windows - Its this best option.



4) Mics

For XPs try uninstalling internet explore from control panel "default programs and features" and reinstall, as internet explore and window shell are essentials the same, it will do what step 2 attempts to do. " not too sure if this can be done on Windows 7"

SAFEMODE ONLY

Boot PC in safemode or live usb

On a working machine copy "explorer.exe" from C:\windows directory paste explorer.exe and overwrite the existing explore.exe on you problem C:\windows directory. This is also similar to a result that step 2 would do.



I have seen and experienced problems with the windows shell before, this is also all the symontons of a known windows shell issues, the problem will continue to get worse over time, so PLEASE BACKUP ALL DATA BEFORE TAKING ANY OF THE STEPS I HAVE SUGGESTED"

A simple internet search found this as the most likely suspect, however before attempting this "fix" I would recommend running a virus, adware and malware search FIRST.

Why?

Simply because any of those items can do harm to any part of your OS and you need to make sure your PC IS FREE of unwanted software..

Did you download anything recently? Why do I ask? simply put, many free software now days is riddled with Adware and you need to PAY attention to the program installer and cancel anything you DON'T want...

Can you refresh my memory about how to 'reload video drivers" ... is that from the original install disc, or online? Step x step would help ...

Apparently there are some issues with certain themes (don't know if you use one) and other apps/addons.

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=280491

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/139011-taskbar-flashing-firefox-new-gchat-messages.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/178040-flashing-taskbar-windows.html

http://windows.ifmdb.com/NRTMYZqj-how-to-stop-icons-from-flashing-on-taskbar.html

1995brave wrote:
Reload your video drivers and see if it helps. Here at work we had one of Microsofts Win 7 updates overwrite a section where the video drivers were loaded and caused all sorts of video problems. We reloaded the video drivers and everything started working fine.

I think a better term would be "display drivers". It has nothing to do with playing video. It's drivers for your graphics card.

We had all types of symtoms, task bar flashing, icons changing colors, and the display going to640x480 and a purple color. Try it, it should not hurt anything.

Not sure I understand 1995brave, it's my task bar blinking ... nothing to do with video, which I seldom use anyway. So, does this video driver cause the task bar to blink for some reason? Thx

Reload your video drivers and see if it helps. Here at work we had one of Microsofts Win 7 updates overwrite a section where the video drivers were loaded and caused all sorts of video problems. We reloaded the video drivers and everything started working fine.

Nope, running W7 on both ... this one is the original W7 from last year, LT came with W7 on it. The other LT now has W7 on it, new HD with new W7 ... I took it back to the tech because the 'change over' missed a couple drivers. Apparently, W8 and W7 are not compatible w/ some drivers, so he's fixing that.

To back-track: This LT OS has always worked fine. The charging socket broke a day before we left on an extended trip. So, could not get it repaired in time, so bought the W8 LT ... and then the fun started. Biggest mistake I ever made, going with W8, but didn't know it at the time. Most of my hassles have been with the W8 OS ... you can hold a gun to my head, and I'm still not going to like W8 :) :) :) Altho', at that point, I might lie to you.

But, the flickering is kinda odd - so, was wondering what causes it. It's almost like web-pages or something is loading in the background and flickering the task-bar. Doesn't seem to upset anything, just annoying to the eyes while browsing web pages. Doesn't do it all the time, and does do it sometimes with the mouse wheel rolling down a page too. Not always - and after a while, it stops doing it.