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Note- this is for Windows 7.. this one is for vista "Ghost" UI elements

So it is not a duplicate.. And also the changing the resolution(the accepted answer on that one), didn't fix it for me.

there may be a windows 7 specific answer

Here is a bit of the desktop.

enter image description here

At some point some old bit of GUI appeared and won't go away. Here it is hovering as I write this question.

enter image description here

It just sits there. And as you can no doubt appreciate, it is a nuisance.

I've tried clicking in the bottom left to mimimize all the windows and clicking again to restore but nope. And i've tried opening a window over it but it just won't paint over it. The unwanted bit of GUI stays on top of anything.

I have tried opening task manager, end tasking explorer and starting explorer again, but nope, still there. so besides restarting windows, what can I do?

added

And I tried the accepted answer here "Ghost" UI elements (and probably some others too) and the accepted answer of changing resolution, and some others I tried there, didn't work

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barlop
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  • Have you tried locking the screen then unlocking (so you're in the log-in screen and then get back into the same session), or logging off, and logging back on? – Journeyman Geek Nov 05 '13 at 14:21
  • @JourneymanGeek not overly keen.. haven't tried locking screen before, would worry I can't unlock it. would have to try it on another comp first. so i'm sure. And as for logging off.. I guess that might close programs? i'm not that keen on programs closing. – barlop Nov 05 '13 at 14:22
  • It won't, I use it to clean my keyboard. win-l is perfectly safe. logging off would close programs – Journeyman Geek Nov 05 '13 at 14:24
  • @JourneymanGeek ok did win-l, it asked me for pswd, I knew it so fine. But "save as" still there when back. – barlop Nov 05 '13 at 14:27
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    Right click on desktop and choose Refresh or change your Windows theme to classic and then back to Aero. – StBlade Nov 05 '13 at 15:00
  • @StBlade refresh didn't work.. I thought of expanding my taskbar over it as that was one of the things that worked in xp at its worst, or opening a window over it and it painted over it, though 7 seems more resistent. But looks like changing my windows theme worked, I don't recall at what point. I think I was on basic am back on basic now. but yeah I changed back and forth classic basic aero back to basic and it reoslved. maybe purely classic to aero solved it.. though i changed back to basic once solved. great. can you post that solution you have as an answer? i'll accept it. – barlop Nov 05 '13 at 15:14
  • @StBlade ok, as it happened again, this time I payed more attention to the themes, Switching from basic(where I was) to aero, that got rid of it, then I just switched back to basic. It was your comment that solved it, so do post your answer when you're next on here. ta. – barlop Nov 05 '13 at 20:17
  • @barlop Great!! Glad it worked. I will post the answer. :) – StBlade Nov 06 '13 at 07:44
  • This question is for Windows 7. The other question is for Vista. – barlop Jun 06 '15 at 18:36

2 Answers2

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What you can try is to change the theme of your windows from Aero to Classic and then back to Aero again. It could be that something got stuck in the refresh of the different themes that is causing screen artefacts that you are experiencing.

StBlade
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  • that worked, its variation that worked, was I was on basic "theme", got junk there, then switched to aero, junk gone. Then went back to basic. so i suppose the general would be, switch to a theme that is not aero if one is not already. then switch to aero. and junk goes. then switch to your preferred theme(maybe your original). so for me, Basic->aero and junk gone, then back to basic. Or for somebody that is already on and likes aero. aero->classic-->aero. for somebody that is on basic and likes basic. basic->aero->basic. So, either case involves 2 changes of theme and aero. – barlop Nov 06 '13 at 10:18
  • i have some leftover from visual studio and it wasn't disappearing even with this solution.. and visual studio window wasn't on screen, i'd even clicked the bottom right button to minimize everything. Oddly enough closing visual studio made it disappear! (closing a program is not something that'd normally resolve the issue but worked today) – barlop Sep 15 '16 at 23:15
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The cleanest way to do it, without shutting down all your programs is to go to:

  1. Start Menu > Shut Down > Switch User
  2. On Welcome screen just log back in

You now have a fresh screen clean of artifacts and you never logged off.

David
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    For the user who downvoted, thinking it's the same as the log screen, it's not. Lock Screen has no effect and the artifacts are back. Switch user however works. You never actually switch a user, just log back in as the same user. – David Jan 31 '19 at 04:00
  • I haven't tested this, as I haven't had the GUI issue recently, but i've upvoted you so as to undo whoever it was that downvoted you without comment. – barlop Jan 31 '19 at 10:59
  • I just tested this when I didn't have the problem and it is fast and seems to redraw everything. This may be the best solution because I imagine that 'switch user' is a feature that might be more likely to stick around than a theme changing thing. And perhaps easier than trying to find options like 'change theme'. OTOH some people (at least back in the day), did disable 'fast user switching' so they won't have the option to 'switch user' e.g. https://www.ghacks.net/2017/04/25/disable-fast-user-switching-on-windows/ – barlop Jan 31 '19 at 11:06
  • Thank you for the upvote, and the comments. The reason I also prefer this method is that it also cures other problems such as Explorer quirks. Lock screen didn't work for me either. Switch user method worked for me every time I had any sort of GUI and non GUI problem - that is when I really want to avoid a reboot, shutting down programs, or uif there is an active process (such as remote FTP backup) going on. Switch user simply keeps everything running in the background. – David Feb 01 '19 at 06:24
  • Well, it's prefer this method to what. Of course it's better than rebooting or shutting down, that's not in question. The question is this method vs the change theme method. – barlop Feb 01 '19 at 15:10
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    I get it. To clarify, change theme didn’t work for me. That’s how I experimented with switch user that worked. – David Feb 02 '19 at 19:04
  • You could edit your answer and add that changing the theme didn't work for you. – barlop Feb 03 '19 at 03:06