Ghost frame on desktop. help!

superbdave said:

Attachment 31928

Hello, on my windows 10 I got this weird ghost frame on my desktop. if I click Win + D. it disappears. but if I open any pregame. it comes back.

anyone knows what that is?

I have the exact same problem and I'm suspecting this has to do with a 3rd party program. It might help me to know what software you're running on a regular basis with Windows.

My list of "always running" software :

Dropbox
Owncloud
DisplayFusion
Slack
Greenshot
GlassWire
Crashplan
Antidote
f.lux

Amythyr said:

1. Use Windows Key +R to open Run and type msconfig
2. Click on services tab
3. Tick Hide all microsoft services
4. Disable everything
5. Now go to task manager
6. Open Startup tab
7. Disable everything
8. Restart your pc and check if it is still occuring
9. If it is not occuring then enable the things you disabled one by one

It happens randomly and sometimes not for a very long time. So unfortunately this method will not be helpful to identify the culprit.

Hi, do you have anything generating drop shadows?
Y'z shadow or maybe Stardock ShadowFX?

I found the former, until I set an exception, left these behind associated with universal apps.
Does terminating ApplicationFrameHost.exe clear the empty frames?

dalchina said:

Hi, do you have anything generating drop shadows?
Y'z shadow or maybe Stardock ShadowFX?

I found the former, until I set an exception, left these behind associated with universal apps.
Does terminating ApplicationFrameHost.exe clear the empty frames?

I don't use any of those but I'll try the ApplicationFrameHost.exe termination next time the bug occurs. Thanks.

dalchina said:

Does terminating ApplicationFrameHost.exe clear the empty frames?

Just tested this when a ghost frame appeared, it changed nothing.

Faskil said:

Just tested this when a ghost frame appeared, it changed nothing.

Perhaps I should direct this at the OP but I'll direct it at everyone.
Where did the wallpaper come from? Could the wallpaper cache be corrupt?

Hi Faskil, that it's not associated with ApplicationFramehost.exe suggests it's not associated with one of the universal apps, for example.

I was trying to think what reveals hidden windows that I used a very long time ago..
You could try Nirsoft's Winlister (it's specified to Win 8, runs for me)- it shows which windows are hidden. Might give a clue...
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/winlister.html

Noted you seem to have set aside Amythyr's and satchmo's ideas.... Irrespective of the fact it seems random, Windows without anything added, wouldn't do this. So a process of elimination..

(Note- might even be sthg you have scheduled (but noted it seems random so unlikely), which Amythyr's comment wouldn't include).