Windows 10 desktop screen and taskbar keep refreshing ( Tried many ways but still failed )
Solution 1:
I was having the same problem. In my case I traced it to PDFShell64.dll (C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\PDFShell64.dll) Basically the dll was crashing and then explorer would reload and the dll would crash again... hence the loop.
I believe PDFShell64.dll is used to display pdf thumbnails on the desktop. IE when you use the display pdf thumbnails in explorer option in Adobe Reader DC.
Don't know why this problem suddenly occurred - been using it for months. Rolled back windows and still a problem & AR didn't seem to have been updated either. Basically, tried deselecting the display thumbnail option in AR but still crashed so then I uninstalled Adobe Reader DC and now it is all good again (but no PDF thumbnails on the desktop:()
I had to do all this via Safe Mode Command line interface as even safe mode with low res drivers suffered the screen refresh problem.
Hope this helps
Solution 2:
Too many icons on your desktop OR File Association disturbed by a new app.
- make a new folder on your desktop, start moving all icons/folder from your desktop to this new folder one by one and keep noticing that on a certain move, the flickering/refresh will stop - that is the troublesome file. Either move that file somewhere else, re-associate it with another program as default opening program or delete it or make a copy of it and delete the original.