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I'm having a strange problem with Windows 10 since yesterday.

Basically, all icons on the desktop have disappeared and the background has become blurry.

When I try to remove a display or change resolution the icons reappear for a few seconds and the background becomes sharp again... only to turn back to blurry after a few seconds.

Can anyone help?

Filippo Possenti
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2 Answers2

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We can suspect a driver issue, assuming it started appearing without any change in phyiscial conditions. Things to check

  1. Any new driver versions installed recently? ( we can try rolling back the driver and see the outcome)
  2. Any windows update took place recently? ( sometimes driver updates get pushed along with windows update, you have to disable them or uninstall if something like this has taken place.)
  3. Any new software was installed recently? ( Reverting them in the order and reboot might help identifying the issue ). There can be some prank softwares which can do this to you. :)

But do try to perform these activities in an orderly fasion, so that we can track the actual problem.

If you're using a VGA/HDMI cable, check if it's plugged in properly. You can even connect another laptop/desktop to the monitor and try to rule out any issue possible with the monitor.

Ashishkel
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  • It started appearing after I played a videogame using Dosbox. I didn't update any driver but Windows did indeed do a number of updates recently. None seemed to have caused problems. It's a laptop so the only cable is the one of the second monitor. I did try to remove the cable and re-insert it, to no avail. I also tried to change resolution to no avail. It's just the background that is blurred. Everything else is perfectly fine, so it's definitely not an issue with the monitor (it also happens on both the built-in display and the external one). – Filippo Possenti Nov 15 '20 at 00:21
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The issue apparently was related to an application called Stardock Fences.

I used it for a very long time as I find it useful. Sometimes it did have minor glitches, but nothing major.

This time something must have happened that triggered this strange blur effect.

The solution was to uninstall the application. It is unclear at the moment whether by re-installing it the problem would re-appear or not. Eventually I'll try, but for now I'm happy ennough that the problem is solved.

Filippo Possenti
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  • Good to hear that removal solved it. Next time before running the dosbox, it would be good to tweak the compatibility settings of the program. – Ashishkel Nov 15 '20 at 04:00