These days everybody is so excited about the latest upgrade on windows 10 and there are very good features and windows 11 is definitely the improved version of windows 10. But Windows 11 has its own flaws which they are working on and will keep releasing updates which can be installed for a better experience. Many windows users have noted that there is a weird issue with the desktop and taskbar in the Windows 11 system where it keeps refreshing itself and it is quite bothering the users who are unable to fix it.
On analyzing this issue mentioned above, we managed to collect a few reasons that might be responsible for causing this problem and they are listed below.
- iCloud software running on the system.
- Interruption of Anti-virus, OneDrive, Video streaming software like Adobe, SilverLight, etc.
- Problems that are related to some services in the system.
- The corrupted system or data files.
- IDT Audio Driver.
Don’t worry if this problem is happening in your system too. We have compiled a bunch of solutions that will make this issue disappear from your system. Keep reading to learn more.
Workarounds –
- Try uninstalling these video streaming software like Adobe, Silverlight, and so on. Also disable the Anti-virus software and see if this works.
- Check if any physical key (like F5) which is dedicated to refresh the system screen got stuck. If yes, please repair it and check if the issue got fixed.
Solution 1 – Close the iCloud photos app
The problem with Windows 11 desktop and taskbar that keeps refreshing itself, could be due to the high consumption of CPU by the applications that might be running currently on the system or in the background. Sometimes there could be multiple processes of the same application. So we suggest our users terminate those applications which consume a lot of CPU like iCloud, etc.
Here are the steps on how to close those apps.
Step 1: Open the Task Manager on your windows 11 system by pressing the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys together on the keyboard.
Step 2: After the Task Manager window pops up, make sure you are on the Processes tab on the left side as shown below.
Step 3: Then, look for iCloud apps from the list of Processes. Also don’t forget to look under Background processes.
Step 4: Right-click on the iCloud app and select End task from the context menu as shown below.
Step 5: Also terminate the apps which consume much CPU just like iCloud.
Step 6: Once done, you can close the Task Manager on your system.
Solution 2 – Run System File Checker Scan
When there are corrupted system files on the system, it creates issues like the one mentioned above in this article. So performing the system file checker scan will detect and rectify those corrupted files and this can resolve this issue.
Follow the steps on how to perform SFC scan on your system.
Step 1: Press the Win+R keys together to open the Run box.
Step 2: Type cmd in it and then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together to open an elevated command prompt on your system.
Note – Accept any UAC prompt on the screen by clicking Yes.
Step 3: After the command prompt is open, type sfc /scannow and press Enter key.
Step 4: This starts to scan the entire computer for any corrupted files and tries to repair and fix it.
Step 5: Once done, you can close the command prompt window.
Step 6: Also just restart the system and see if this worked.
Solution 3 – Disable some services in the Windows system
There are a few services which directly impact the display and system performance and when the users disable these services, these kinds of issues can be resolved easily. So we recommend following the steps below on how to disable the services using the services app on your windows system.
Step 1: Press the Windows + R keys together and the Run command box appears on the right bottom of the screen.
Step 2: Next, type services.msc in its textbox and press Enter key.
Step 3: This opens up the services app window.
Step 4: Now scroll down the list of services to the bottom and look for Windows Error Reporting Service and select it.
Step 5: After that, right-click on it and click Properties from the context menu as shown below.
Step 6: Under the General tab of the Properties window, select Disabled from the Startup type dropdown list.
Step 7: Click the Stop button and then just click Apply and OK.
Step 8: This will disable the Windows Error Reporting Service on your system.
Step 9: Once you are done, look for another service called Problems Report Control Panel Support service in the services window.
Step 10: Now you can open its properties window by double-clicking on it.
Step 11: Once the Properties window opens, make sure you are on the General tab.
Step 12: Then, click on the Startup type option and select Disabled from the list.
Step 13: After selecting it, click the Stop button, which is present just below it.
Step 14: Now click Apply and OK.
Step 15: After this, close the Services app window.
Solution 4 – Roll back the Graphics driver in Windows
Do you know that the display graphics card might also be responsible for any issues like the one mentioned above in this article? If any user is facing this issue after he has updated his graphics driver lately, it is certain that this issue is caused due to this graphic driver’s update.
So we suggest our users roll back the graphics driver using the device manager app as explained below.
Step 1: Press the Windows key and type device manager.
Step 2: Then select the Device Manager app from the search results as shown below.
Step 3: After the device manager window opens, search for the Display adapters option from the list of devices.
Step 4: Expand the Display adapters by double-clicking on it.
Step 5: Right-click on the Display graphics adapter and then you need to click Properties from its context menu as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 6: In the Properties window, you need to select the Driver tab.
Step 7: Then click the Roll Back Driver option under the Driver tab as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 8: Once done, click OK for the changes to reflect and then close the device manager.
Step 9: Restart your system and see if this method was able to resolve the issue.
Solution 5 – Delete the Icon and Thumbnail Cache
In order to make the appearance look better by loading the icons for files and folders, Windows stores the icon and thumbnail in the cache memory which boosts the performance of the system display. Unfortunately, if this cache memory which holds the icons and other data gets corrupted, it might affect the display and cause such an issue display discussed in this article.
So we are guiding you here with the steps on how to clear the icon and thumbnail cache.
Step 1: Press the Windows+R keys together and type cmd in it.
Step 2: Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys simultaneously to open an elevated command prompt window on your system.
NOTE – You might have to accept any UAC prompted on the screen to proceed.
Step 3: Once the command prompt is open, type the below line to reach the Explorer folder where there are all types of icons and thumbnail database files present and press Enter key.
cd %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
Step 4: Now type dir and hit Enter key to see all the contents of the folder.
Step 5: If the contents displayed do not contain any iconcache_*.db or thumbcache_*.db, then it means the cache is already cleared.
Step 6: If it contains all the icon and thumbnails cache database files, you can proceed to delete them using the command prompt.
Step 7: Now you need to make sure all the apps and folders, and files are closed from the task manager (open by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc).
Step 8: After that come back to the command prompt window, type taskkill /f /im explorer.exe and hit Enter key, which will terminate the Windows Explorer.
NOTE- Don’t worry! it will come back after executing a few commands when you proceed further with this method.
Step 9: Next execute these commands listed below one after the other.
attrib -h iconcache_*.db
del /f iconcache_*.db
attrib -h thumbcache_*.db
del /f thumbcache_*.db
Step 10: This will delete all the iconcache and thumbcache files in the system.
Step 11: Now type start explorer and press Enter key, which will open the Windows Explorer again back on the system and populate the new set of icon and thumbnail database files.
Step 12: Reboot your system once.
Solution 6 – Uninstall or Disable OneDrive
Some windows users have reported that they were able to fix this issue by uninstalling the OneDrive app from the windows system. Follow the steps below on how you can uninstall the OneDrive app.
Step 1: Press the Win+R keys together and type appwiz.cpl and then press Enter key.
Step 2: Once the Programs and Features window appears on the screen, look for Microsoft OneDrive from the list.
Step 3: Select the Microsoft OneDrive and click Uninstall button on the top bar as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 4: This will start uninstalling the OneDrive app from the system.
Step 5: Once done, close the Programs and Features window.
Step 6: If any user does not want to uninstall but wants to find a way to disable the OneDrive app then follow the steps below.
Step 7: Go to the SystemTray on the taskbar.
Step 8: Click on the OneDrive icon from the Tray as shown below.
Step 9: Then, click on the Help & Settings icon which is gear-shaped on the top of the OneDrive app window.
Step 10: After that select Settings from the list.
Step 11: In the Settings window, click the Settings tab and uncheck the Start OneDrive automatically when I sign in to Windows checkbox.
Step 12: Then, click OK.
This will disable the OneDrive app.