Desktop icons flickering when loading Opera

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer @gooorooo

The problem still happens in Opera 55, that is the latest stable version?

A Former User

I had same problem with Opera 55 and less (Windows 8 and updated drivers). There was slow Opera loading (about 1 minute) and taskbar icons flickering. Today I've installed latest Opera version and removed all files from path "c:/Users/MyUser/AppData/Local/Temp" - not sure it is good practice but there was over 4000 files and almost 2GB of usage. After that opera starts normal (in seconds) and there's no flickering icons.

cottonfox

cottonfox

I think I have found the ANSWER. The lnk shortcut that Opera still uses causes the problem (more like Windows' bug than Opera's though). To resolve this, you need to go to your installation folder, make another shortcut by dragging Opera icon to your desktop, or pin it to taskbar. Voila, it starts just as smoothly as ever.

A Former User @cottonfox

@cottonfox said in Desktop icons flickering when loading Opera:

I think I have found the ANSWER. The lnk shortcut that Opera still uses causes the problem (more like Windows' bug than Opera's though). To resolve this, you need to go to your installation folder, make another shortcut by dragging Opera icon to your desktop, or pin it to taskbar. Voila, it starts just as smoothly as ever.

Agreed. As reported above 5 months ago!

xpvb48 5 months ago
I seem to have stumbled upon a very simple solution to this, at least on my Win 8, 64 Bit Toshiba notebook.

I always start up Opera via a long established Icon on my PC's Task Bar. Today I found a new 'Opera browser' shortcut on my PC in the folder: User/AppData/Local/Temp
It doesn't seem to have special parameters or anything but, when I started Opera up via this shortcut, no flickering!

I unpinned the old Opera Icon from the Task bar and pinned a new Opera Icon for the program. Now, whenever I start Opera from the Task Bar, it starts normally with no flickering icons. I do not know the details of the old startup icon.

A Former User

same here
win 7 ultimate
latest opera version

A Former User @Guest

@xpvb48

Hi

That doesn't work for me. It is related to the link in <user>\AppData\Local\Temp though as indicated.

Since that link ("Opera browser") is created by Opera itself on each start, this ISN'T a problem of windows.

If I remove the link before any start of Opera, it starts normally. If I leave that link in the temp dir, no matter how I start Opera, it will case desktop refresh.

Regards
Seb

A Former User @Guest

@seb17

Strange...

And I don't now even have such a link in my AppData\Local\Temp directory with the current version of Opera.

Artie

Artie

I've had this same "problem" too. I say problem in quotes, because it really doesn't hurt anything. The redraw process takes only a second or two. However, just for kicks, I did what [b]xpvb48[/b] said, and it fixed it. Unpin your current taskbar link, then repin a new one. I did mine from the appdata/local/temp directory, but I'm guessing it will work repinned from anywhere.

Artie

Artie

I just discovered a couple things. This isn't an Opera problem per se, but a Windows thang. When I open my ACDSee photo editor, it does the same thing. Also, the "fix" I did above only lasted a couple days. Now it's back. I'm not going to worry about it though, because it's such a minor deal.

However, folks might find this interesting. I came into this forum searching for a different problem. After updating to ver 56, my bookmarks bar didn't highlight the labels when I hovered the mouse over them. But when I did xpvb48's "fix", it fixed that problem also. That problem has remained fixed.

Just a heads-up.

A Former User @Artie

More on this...

Noticed I was getting some icon flickering on latest versions of Opera (was 56.0.3051.43, just updated again) when started via the Taskbar. So I tried the usual trick of deleting the existing icon, went to the Opera program directory and tried starting directly from Launcher. Much worse! Slower start up, even more icon flickering.

So I closed Opera, tried to create a Shortcut of Launcher in the program directory - my Win 8 PC wouldn't allow this but offered to put shortcut on desktop. (day to day I use my ordinary User account not the Admin account). Pinned new shortcut to Taskbar and clicked. Much better!

Seems this may be a necessary bit of Opera maintenance following updates. Or, as mentioned above, is it a Windows issue?

A Former User

I get this issue too but have noticed that if i start opera by clicking a pdf file (opera is set to open them) the icons dont flicker/refresh
how odd.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @Guest

@Ceedee

Close Opera.
Clear your temp folder "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Temp".
Right-click any Opera pinned icons in your taskbar and unpin them.
Delete any Opera shortcuts on your desktop.
Right-click any Opera icons in your start menu and unpin them.
Restart Windows.
Right-click "C:\Program Files\Opera\launcher.exe" and "pin to start". Repeat and choose "pin to taskbar". And, if you want, repeat and choose "create shortcut" to create a shortcut on your desktop (which you can then rename to "Opera" if you want).
If needed, right-click your desktop, goto "view" and make sure "auto arrange icons" is off.

Artie

Artie

I've seen this happen on a couple different programs now. I believe it's a skinning and/or "theme" problem. It appears as though when a program has it's own theme, that overrides the Windows theme, it has to redraw the icons, and possibly the borders. But I'm having a hard time consistently verifying that. I just know it isn't only Opera that does it.

A Former User @Artie

It may not be the same for others but for me, using 64 Bit Win 8 on my Toshiba notebook, the simplest solution with a new version of Opera seems to be:

Unpin existing Opera icon from Win Taskbar
Go to Opera Launcher in Computer\Disk\Program Files (x86)\Opera\
Create Shortcut for Launcher - if a User account, Win will offer to put shortcut on Desktop
Pin new shortcut to Taskbar
Use new Opera icon on Taskbar to start Opera

nschu

nschu @Guest

@xpvb48
I have found thie file Opera-Browser.lnk in Temp Folder.
If i set it to readonly there are no Icons refresh .
Opera create this file every time new thats where comes these Desktop Icons refresh.
If you delete the file the first Opera start there where no icons refresh but the second start has refresh the Icons.

I use latest Opera 57.0.3098.106 .
I can't use amazon prime with Opera but Google Chrome portable works WHY !