XP x64 focus/flickering screen

[Guest Andy]

Hi,

 

I am having a number of annoying symptoms on my XP Pro x64 system over the

last couple months, e.g.,

 

- when clicking on tasks on task bar, nothing happens

- when using ALT-TAB to change tasks, works properly

- sometimes IE and Office 2003 will lock-up for a few minutes when saving

files, especially when creating new folders during the dialog

- certain applications, such as Quicken 2007, flicker a great deal, and

leave traces of previous windows overlapping new windows frequently when

running certain tasks

- did not behave this way until a couple months ago, but not sure what changed

 

I'm not sure where to start. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

--

Andy Barnett

[Guest Charlie Russel - MVP]

Re: XP x64 focus/flickering screen

 

This is not a 64bit specific issue - the troubleshooting and resolution is

going to be pretty much the same as any other XP system. There are some

places to start.

 

1.) Open task manager and see if there are any processes that seem out of

whack. Too much RAM, or too much CPU, or something you can't identify. Once

you've done that, GIYF. (Google is your friend.)

 

2.) Free space on the system drive? If less than 30%, start looking for ways

to clean it up. If less than 10%, start seriously looking for ways to either

expand that partition, move to a larger hard disk, or seriously clean stuff

off it.

 

3.) Disk fragmentation. I'd look at one of the third party de-fraggers out

there. I like PerfectDisk, but there are others that work well with XP x64.

 

4.) Networking issues? Easily overlooked, but little things like an iffy

network cable, or a flaky switch or network card can have a huge impact.

 

5.) a failing HD or memory. If your HD takes two or three tries to write a

sector, but finally gets it, you may not see an error message (though you

should be checking the Event log for any interesting things). But it can

easily have a huge impact on performance.

 

6.) Malware of some sort.

 

--

Charlie.

http://msmvps.com/xperts64

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/charlie.russel

 

 

"Andy" <Andy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:27EEAAE0-A713-4A6D-9AB4-B4EB793FAC85@microsoft.com...

> Hi,

>

> I am having a number of annoying symptoms on my XP Pro x64 system over the

> last couple months, e.g.,

>

> - when clicking on tasks on task bar, nothing happens

> - when using ALT-TAB to change tasks, works properly

> - sometimes IE and Office 2003 will lock-up for a few minutes when saving

> files, especially when creating new folders during the dialog

> - certain applications, such as Quicken 2007, flicker a great deal, and

> leave traces of previous windows overlapping new windows frequently when

> running certain tasks

> - did not behave this way until a couple months ago, but not sure what

> changed

>

> I'm not sure where to start. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

>

> Thanks!

> --

> Andy Barnett