Taskbar keeps refreshing

Merry · 12 Jul 2018

Hello,
I know that there are dozens of threads with replies and solutions but I cannot find my case. I apologise if I have missed it but I doubt it, I have been looking for over a month.

I bought a Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series with Windows 10 six weeks ago, and the taskbar keeps flashing as if refreshing every 15 minutes. Not the desktop, only the taskbar.

Again, this is not an upgrade but a brand new laptop, and it never had IDT Audio drivers installed. I would appreciate any help that does not include the solutions given in these topics, which have not helped:

Upgrade and now flashing desktop/taskbar
Taskbar & desktop randomly refreshes after upgrading to ten

Thank you!

preguntonontra1 · 12 Jul 2018

Interesting problem, when by any reason i buy a brand computer for example dell hp bla bla i prefer installing a vanilla clean OS from windows. If you have a license try formatting and installing a new copy it will be less buggy than anything your computer came with. About the taskbar, try disabling and enabling your visual effects.

dalchina · 12 Jul 2018

Basic question- has it done this from new, or did some change occur that led to this?

If so, use a System Restore point - if, that is, you enabled System Restore and have some appropriate restore points.

Note: You should have a manufacturer's recovery partition that would allow you to do a factory reset.... to 'as bought'.

Merry · 12 Jul 2018

Thanks for your replies, but all of it has been done. It didn't take long to restore to factory, one of the first things I did was create a System Restore point and I didn't have time to do much before I noticed the problem. The maddeningly slow Dell SupportAssist has gone through all the motions of trouble shooting, even asked me to install the latest versions of drivers. In a laptop that was supposed to have come with the latest, and probably was.

I appreciate the help, I wish something had worked but the annoying problem persists.

dalchina · 13 Jul 2018

Are you using Chrome as your browser?

Well, you have one very simple option- if it's not working as supplied- return it.

(Always helps to explain what you've tried when posting your problem).

Merry · 13 Jul 2018

I use Firefox and have Chrome as backup with the option "allow Chrome to update in the background" disabled.

I stated very clearly in my opening post that I have gone through all the solutions given in the existing topics on this site and also on Microsoft site, 100% of which are about desktop/taskbar refreshing. 0% about taskbar alone.

I have an x64-based machine, intel core i7 8th gen, CPU @ 1.80 GHz 1.99 GHz - 4 cores 8 logical processors, 12.0 GB RAM, 1TB hard drive, 128GB ssd. And my problem is a periodical flicker in the taskbar.

I am sorry, I completely disagree on the meaning of "simple", but thanks anyway.

dalchina · 13 Jul 2018

As you've gone thru all the solutions, I suggest you return it, assuming that you made no changes prior to this happening.

Your other option would be to try a clean install of Win 10. 1803 is more problematic; you could try 1709 as an experiment.