Orange dashes blinking above the taskbar

GeoffW · 20 Oct 2017

I'll explain the circumstances in a moment, but first a couple of pictures so you understand what I am seeing. See the small orange dash (dot? spot? thing?) just at the top of the taskbar in each of the following images:

This:

Orange dashes blinking above the taskbar-win10-taskbar-dots2.jpg

then a second later this:

Orange dashes blinking above the taskbar-win10-taskbar-dots3.jpg

then a second later two dashes:

Orange dashes blinking above the taskbar-win10-taskbar-dots1.jpg

and then it repeats

It's not entirely consistent, sometimes the orange dot/dash thing at the top of the taskbar is in just one place, and blinks on for a second and then off for a second, and so on.

This odd behaviour only occurs when the machine has been left idle for a long period (30min or an hour or something), and the moment I start to do anything the little orange dot will be blink quickly a few times and then disappear (happens so quickly that I can't get the task manager up in time to see what process might be causing it).

So far I've only seen it on a particular virtual machine. The host is running VMware Workstation v14 over Windows 10 x64 with latest updates (Creators Update etc.). The guest, where the above images were captured, is also running Windows 10 x64 with the latest updates.

The virtual machine has all sleep options turned off (never sleep the screen or system) as is common on a VM. The VM is running in full screen mode. When I switch back to the VM after not touching it for a long while and I will see these dashes, but almost as soon as I click in the VM they flash quickly for a second and then disappear.

The machine is a development machine and has very little installed other than: vmTools, RAD Studio v10, TinyWall, Firefox, AutoHotKey ... and not much else. The taskbar is locked in position. The machine spends most of its time disconnected from the 'net (external the firewall blocks it), I just let it through occasionally to update.

As far as I can tell there is nothing actually wrong. Everything is stable and working well. I am just very curious about what is painting these orange dashes and why - and whether the patterns have any significance. I've done a lot of searching on the 'net but have not yet found anything that seems to match what I am seeing. So I signed up here to see if you fine people might be able to help. :)

GeoffW · 29 Oct 2017

The response has not been exactly overwhelming, so I'm guessing not many people have see this. I've seen it again several times over the last week, but the pattern of flashing varies a lot. But as often as I've seen it, I still haven't been able to work out what's doing it. If anyone has any suggestions regarding how to work out what's doing it, they would be appreciated (nothing obvious shows up in Process Explorer).

Edwin · 29 Oct 2017

GeoffW said:

The response has not been exactly overwhelming, so I'm guessing not many people have see this. I've seen it again several times over the last week, but the pattern of flashing varies a lot. But as often as I've seen it, I still haven't been able to work out what's doing it. If anyone has any suggestions regarding how to work out what's doing it, they would be appreciated (nothing obvious shows up in Process Explorer).

Any way you could shoot some video of this anomaly?

GeoffW · 29 Oct 2017

VMware used to have a video capture feature built-in, but they removed it a few versions ago. An installed product would present problems to activate because the flashing stops as soon as I click or do anything in the machine - and leaving it running for the long period required for the flashing to start could be problematic. Hmm... I suppose I could try something with my phone. What's the best way to link a video to this forum (if/when I capture one)?

Edwin · 29 Oct 2017

GeoffW said:

VMware used to have a video capture feature built-in, but they removed it a few versions ago. An installed product would present problems to activate because the flashing stops as soon as I click or do anything in the machine - and leaving it running for the long period required for the flashing to start could be problematic. Hmm... I suppose I could try something with my phone. What's the best way to link a video to this forum (if/when I capture one)?

Upload it to Imgur, or something like that.

GeoffW · 29 Oct 2017

Thanks. I will set up the VM and wait for it to show. (Who wants to bet that it plays hard to get?

)

Tony K · 29 Oct 2017

This is the nearest I could find in the FAQ at the top of each forum page.

Reading and Posting Messages

GeoffW · 30 Oct 2017

Edwin said:

Any way you could shoot some video of this anomaly?

A smartphone does not a smart-person make, so I apologise for the wobbling of the camera and the poor colours etc. Here is a link to Imgur of what I captured just a while ago: https://i.imgur.com/fppefEd.mp4

If you watch carefully, and can avoid getting motion sickness, you will see one dash blinking on the right side and another blinking on the left. After a few seconds I move the mouse down over an icon on the taskbar (but I don't click, I just wait for the hint to popup) and you see the nearest dash flashes quickly and then they both disappear.