Solved Very Minor Desktop Icon issue

robertbezak · Feb 9, 2023

Try3 said:
I thought Caffeine just kept your display on.
Couldn't you achieve that by setting your display to stay on in Power settings?

I thought this had been checked above but must be getting mixed up between threads.
Is your computer an S3 Sleep one or an S0 Modern standby [aka S0 Low power idle] one?
Find out by running this command
PowerCfg -a

Denis

I had the same problem as mentioned above. Icons on the desktop are freezing after 20 minutes after not working on the computer. They are frozen about 2-5 seconds only....it is not a big problem, but for my client it is annoying. So I found out, windows has to "think", I am still working on the computer, and that´s why I used Caffeine.

Try3 · Feb 9, 2023

robertbezak said:
I found out, windows has to "think", I am still working on the computer, and that´s why I used Caffeine.

So something is being put into a low power mode and takes time to recover.

I also make Windows think I'm using the computer sometimes but I just use a simple batch file that writes then repeatedly runs a VBScript.

Keep display on.bat

set ThisVBScript="%TEMP%\KeepDisplayOn-%RANDOM%.vbs"
Echo Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") > %ThisVBScript%
Echo WshShell.SendKeys "{NUMLOCK}" >> %ThisVBScript%
Echo WshShell.SendKeys "{NUMLOCK}" >> %ThisVBScript%
:ReRunKeepDisplayOn
Call %ThisVBScript%
TimeOut /T 20 /NOBREAK >nul
GoTo ReRunKeepDisplayOn

- It works by simulating a physical double-press of the NumLock key so Windows thinks you are doing something.
- It's a double-press every time so the NumLock key is returned to whichever state you normally keep it in.
- I'd bet that your Caffeine is doing pretty much the same.
I run this when I want to keep my display on without changing Power plans.

If you have S0 Modern standby [aka S0 Low power idle] this script will hold it off, will stop it being initiated. Your computer will remain fully available for use.

All the best,
Denis

robertbezak · Feb 9, 2023

Try3 said:
So something is being put into a low power mode and takes time to recover.

I also make Windows think I'm using the computer sometimes but I just use a simple batch file that writes then repeatedly runs a VBScript.

Keep display on.bat
set ThisVBScript="%TEMP%\KeepDisplayOn-%RANDOM%.vbs" Echo Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") > %ThisVBScript% Echo WshShell.SendKeys "{NUMLOCK}" >> %ThisVBScript% Echo WshShell.SendKeys "{NUMLOCK}" >> %ThisVBScript% :ReRunKeepDisplayOn Call %ThisVBScript% TimeOut /T 20 /NOBREAK >nul GoTo ReRunKeepDisplayOn

- It works by simulating a physical double-press of the NumLock key so Windows thinks you are doing something.
- It's a double-press every time so the NumLock key is returned to whichever state you normally keep it in.
- I'd bet that your Caffeine is doing pretty much the same.
I run this when I want to keep my display on without changing Power plans.

If you have S0 Modern standby [aka S0 Low power idle] this script will hold it off, will stop it being initiated. Your computer will remain fully available for use.

All the best,
Denis

Thank you, I will definitely try also your script. Robert.

spapakons · Feb 9, 2023

If you can access the power settings in BIOS disable any sleep options, disable any power control from BIOS and let Windows control your power settings. I typically configure my PC to never sleep (I only switch off the monitor), so I can connect remotely at any time.

wa1fhy · Feb 9, 2023

All these workarounds are fine, but....

I see no reason why this issue should not be reported to and resolved by Microsoft. I mean my computer never had this problem until a couple of weeks ago (possibly due to recent Win 11 Updates???). It doesn't seem too much to ask that the proper functionality be restored.

I submitted a report using the Windows Feedback Hub (Win-F) on my computer. I have no idea whether anyone at Microsoft reads these feedback reports. If anybody in this forum knows the proper way to get the attention of Microsoft for this bug, please consider submitting it on behalf of the users in this forum experiencing this same issue. Thanks.

Try3 · Feb 9, 2023

wa1fhy said:
I submitted a report using the Windows Feedback Hub (Win-F) on my computer.
If anybody in this forum knows the proper way to get the attention of Microsoft for this bug

Your way was the correct way.

Denis

spapakons · Feb 9, 2023

wa1fhy said:
All these workarounds are fine, but....

I see no reason why this issue should not be reported to and resolved by Microsoft. I mean my computer never had this problem until a couple of weeks ago (possibly due to recent Win 11 Updates???). It doesn't seem too much to ask that the proper functionality be restored.

I submitted a report using the Windows Feedback Hub (Win-F) on my computer. I have no idea whether anyone at Microsoft reads these feedback reports. If anybody in this forum knows the proper way to get the attention of Microsoft for this bug, please consider submitting it on behalf of the users in this forum experiencing this same issue. Thanks.

Forget the Microsoft support Community. They are slow to reply and usually suggest things you have already tried. Many employees reply by consulting a guide, they are not always experienced professionals, and of course their generic replies hardly help you solve your problems. The best they can do is assist you in "how to" questions by copying from the guide. Consulting a forum like this one is faster and provides better help.

flhthemi · Feb 9, 2023

I am also experiencing this same issue with the same results for all the suggestions. I am running on a non-compliant PC though.

So this is what I got when running the PowerCfg -a cmd I think it's related to power settings BTW mine is in High Performance and nothing is allowed to sleep or hibernate. Nvidia drivers are current. Prefer maximum performance is now set but made no change to the issue.

spapakons · Feb 9, 2023

What about any power settings in the BIOS (UEFI firmware) ?

Just a thought! It might be an application configured to run when the computer is idle (such as a virus scan). Right-click on This PC and select Manage to open Computer Management. Go to Scheduled tasks and see which applications run when idle. Disable these.

flhthemi · Feb 10, 2023

spapakons said:
What about any power settings in the BIOS (UEFI firmware) ?

Just a thought! It might be an application configured to run when the computer is idle (such as a virus scan). Right-click on This PC and select Manage to open Computer Management. Go to Scheduled tasks and see which applications run when idle. Disable these.

This thing is so old it has no UEFI support. I feel certain this whole thing is a bug and MS is gonna have to fix it once they're convinced it's on them.

glasskuter · Feb 10, 2023

Just curious. Are you using any third party app that changes your GUI? If so uninstall it and see if issue remains.

flhthemi · Feb 11, 2023

glasskuter said:
Just curious. Are you using any third party app that changes your GUI? If so uninstall it and see if issue remains.

Not me, none.

spapakons · Feb 11, 2023

I use them all the time and more than three. Never had any issues. I use Open Shell to make start button and start menu like Windows 7, I use Explorer Patcher to make the taskbar work like in Windows 10, I use Customizer God and Resource Hacker to make system icons look like those in Windows 7 and 8.1, I use 8gadgetpack to get back Windows Vista/7 gadgets. I also use Winaero Tweaker, Winaero Old Calculator, Mica for Everyone and probably one or two I forgot.

wa1fhy · Feb 11, 2023

My Dell Inspiron laptop is only about one year old. It essentially has the initial stock Dell Win11 build and I've only installed a couple of applications, such as MS Office. All Win11 updates and Dell BIOS/drivers are current. The fact that this only started a few weeks ago would point to a MS problem one would think. And it's not like my computer is busy running something in the background that inhibits the desktop icon mouse clicks after a 30 minute idle period - I ran Performance Monitor in the background during the idle period and it showed <5% CPU usage
during that period and during the 10 second period where the mouse buttons didn't work.

Another clue perhaps? I've noticed that when I return to the computer after my 30 minute idle time, often the taskbar is showing even though it is set to auto-hide. I can't remember if that also happened before all this desktop icon mouse click stuff started happening, or whether it is indicative of some hidden problem.

spapakons · Feb 11, 2023

Have you done a full system scan with Superantispyware or other similar tool? Remove all findings. I would also use CCleaner to fix all Registry errors. Run it 2-3 times, as more appear after you fix the first findings.

Try3 · Feb 11, 2023

Personally, I wouldn't even use CCleaner to clean my toilet let alone my computer.

Denis

wa1fhy · Feb 11, 2023

I let my Avast do its deep scan - nothing found. I'm leery of using any kind of registry cleaner. As far as drivers go, Avast suggest some updates, Dell suggests some updates, MS suggests some updates, etc, and none of the lists agree with each other. I've done all the ones that I deemed "critical." Besides, numerous people on this thread are reporting the desktop icon mouse click problem, so I doubt that we all have a common driver that is responsible.

These operating systems are just becoming too complicated for anyone (or any group of thousands of software developers at MS) to wrap their heads around!

Zinoviev · Feb 21, 2023

Finally i found someone with this issue. This same thing is going on with my pc as well. It has to be a bug. I tried a fresh install and everything worked fine until windows updated. So yeah, a bug with one of the recent updates.

I even installed win10 back and that doesn't have the issue.

wa1fhy · Feb 21, 2023

What is even more strange is starting about two days ago, I no longer have this "desktop icon mouse delay after idle" problem. Maybe this announcement is premature and the problem will come back - I've been fooled before! The only updates I see in the last few days have been the Microsoft.Skypeapp and Microsoft.Todos from the Microsoft Store and the new Edge browser 110.0.1587.50. Given how much the Edge browser integrates with Windows OS, I wouldn't at all be surprised if Edge was the problem (some of it seems to always be running in the process list, so who knows what it is doing during idle).