[SOLVED] Windows 8 desktop flashing

[shamrin]

I've got a newish Windows 8 machine here that repeatedly flashes as soon as you go to the desktop. It looks to me like Windows Explorer is continually restarting as the taskbar get repainted each time. It also makes the computer impossible to use as any command gets negated as soon as the flash/WE-restart occurs.

The machine weirdly (and predictably) has no restore points and I'd rather solve the problem than do a refresh and loose our desktop programs. I notice in the task manager that the thing is creating a lot of "thumbnail handler extraction host" tasks and I suspect this is a clue, but I can't track down just what is going on. Any suggestions?

 

[NYJimbo]

I've got a newish Windows 8 machine here that repeatedly flashes as soon as you go to the desktop. It looks to me like Windows Explorer is continually restarting as the taskbar get repainted each time. It also makes the computer impossible to use as any command gets negated as soon as the flash/WE-restart occurs.

The machine weirdly (and predictably) has no restore points and I'd rather solve the problem than do a refresh and loose our desktop programs. I notice in the task manager that the thing is creating a lot of "thumbnail handler extraction host" tasks and I suspect this is a clue, but I can't track down just what is going on. Any suggestions?

See this thread, it sounds the same.

 

[shamrin]

See this thread, it sounds the same.

Right you are, that's the same problem. Thanks.

I was hoping to find an elegant solution and fix it surgically but it doesn't look like there is one of those kind at the moment. I ended up doing a Refresh, which is more destructive than I would like. I did discover that "upgrading" to Windows 8.1 does not solve the problem.

 

[jmitservices]

Sounds similiar to what I had...

http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49371

 

[ThanatosOfOne]

I had one of these, and the issue was with Norton antitheft. Managed to pull it and get the system to fucntion normally.

 

[shamrin]

I had one of these, and the issue was with Norton antitheft. Managed to pull it and get the system to fucntion normally.

I'm suspicious of Norton on this machine as well. I couldn't uninstall it as anything you try to do in normal mode gets killed and Safe Mode is usually not good for uninstalling. If I had this problem again, I would try running the Norton Removal Tool under Safe Mode and see if I get any joy. I did disable the Norton services and startups but that did not help.

 

[onetech4all]

Re:

I had similar issue but in Windows 7. My Desktop kept refreshing every 5 sec. I could not even type. Did the research online, nothing. I somehow found out that it was the Windows Error Reporting Service that was trying to "do" something. I disabled it and the problem went away.

 

[ell]

Right you are, that's the same problem. Thanks.

I was hoping to find an elegant solution and fix it surgically but it doesn't look like there is one of those kind at the moment. I ended up doing a Refresh, which is more destructive than I would like. I did discover that "upgrading" to Windows 8.1 does not solve the problem.

The only way to fix it I found is a refresh.