Why does the task pictogram flashes instead of opening the program?

Sometimes, when I select a click a program on the Windows 7 taskbar it won't appear (it doesn't gain focus and remains behind other open windows), and the icon will flash and turn orange. This happens reasonably frequently, and I've had it happen on two separate Windows installs on different machines. It just happened now and the only programs I have with active windows are Chrome, WMP and Explorer (2). It happened when I clicked Explorer.

Once this has happened to one window, it affects all windows, and the only way I can switch between programs is by finding the window manually or using Windows+Tab. The only way I've come across to get the computer to snap out of this annoying behaviour is to restart the machine. Is there a way of stopping it?

Solution 1:

Ah, that video makes it more clear and even your mouse cursor icon seems to have issues, I would suggest:

• Try updating video drivers.

• Try disabling/enabling the Desktop Window Manager service.

• Try disabling/enabling Aero.

• Use ShellExView and try to disable non-Microsoft shell extensions, one might be bad behaving.

• Try creating a new user account and migrating your stuff there.

As a last resort, I think you might need to reinstall...