XP x64 focus/flickering screen

  • Thread starter Thread starter Andy
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Andy

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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
 
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
 
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