all 'FILE EXPLORER' FILE icons flashing whenever dropbox is running

[alan78]

As of today drop box is causing the file icons in ANY/ALL open explorer windows to flash constantly between the correct icon image and the default windows 'no icon' icon.

if i KILL the dropbox process magically all the icon switching stops, thi sis constant and doesnt seem to stop!

What can i do?

I also seem to have 3 DropBoxThumnbailGenerator.exe processes running?

Thanks

[clevercrow]

You are certainly right.

After being plagued with this problem for more than a year, I finally decided to "quit" my Business Dropbox and use my OneDrive account.  Haven't had ANY problems and found many other benefits.  For example, the whole Windows interface (File Explorer and other apps) seem to be flawlessly intergrated with OneDrive so I don't have to really worry about whether something is on a cloud or on the local machine... just like it should be.

Best, Clevercrow

[megawhite]

How can this still not be fixed, STILL icons flashing and shimmering every time I make a change to something in my Dropbox folder when the Dropbox applicaiton is running.  The shimmering does not occur when the Dropbox application has been exited.

Clearly not just a freak problem impacting a couple of users.  For me on Windows 8.1 with approximately 14GB of sync'd data.

I do not have time to uninstall and re-install the application.  How about Dropbox developers actually find out what is wrong and fix their software with an update.

@Dropbox, please response and let us know what you are actually doing about this?

[gabriel_g]

Finally got time to make a clean re-install (uninstall + ccleaner + removing each dropbox remanent files & folders + removing each reference in the registry + reboot + install latest version):

Result: the same old flashing icon crap, that makes the explorer unresponsive.

Its a shame that there is still no official response from Dropbox, no workaround, and no admitance of the problem.

I certainly will convince my boss to change to another paid cloud service.

[megawhite]

@gabriel_g, thanks for the update and sorry the pain of uninstall-reinstall didn't work!

Well the good news is that it doesn't look like it is caused by some peculiar Dropbox state that is hard to re-create, if it still does it even after a full clear out and re-install.

For me the symptoms persist on both a Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 computer with the same Dropbox account.

@Dropbox, need some answers please.  I am a software developer myself and willing to assist with demonstration of symptoms and looking into anything you want me to check.

[drdogbot7]

Same here.

• Uninstalled Dropbox
• Restarted
• Deleted my whole (huge) dropbox folder
• Deleted all Dropbox APPDATA
• Fresh install of latest version
• re-sync overnight
• Same buggy, flickering icon BS

[clevercrow]

Sounds like the too-often quoted definition of insanity... Repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different outcome.
On a related note, it's like coming to the Dropbox Community over and over and expecting to get any help at all. Insanity.

[megawhite]

Clearly radio silence from Dropbox.  Probably because it's a hard one that can't be fixed by uninstall install.  The developers actually have to pull their fingers out and do some work

[Nathan & Shelle]

I've been dealing with this for months/years. Something just finally made a difference -- it turned out my battery health was bad on my laptop (a Dell Precision 5520). There is some absolutely bone-headed setting where the computer will reduce its performance if the battery is having problems, even when plugged in. Turns out my laptop has been performing at 25% capacity for months.  I took the back off and disconnected the battery from the motherboard for a few seconds and reconnected it (this resets this idiotic BIOS setting or whatever it is). Now my laptop is performing literally 400% better and I don't even notice the icons flashing any more.  I also uninstalled the Intel Thermal Framework drivers, which I think may also contribute to this stupid situation. There is also some dumb Windows 10 setting where Windows reduces your performance if you're on battery and it seems to take on a life of its own and also doesn't reset when you're connected to power. It's under the little battery icon in the system tray...

[clevercrow]

Certainly glad this helps you when you work on battery. My 4 computers are all plugged in full time and two are desktops so my power scheme is not the issue. Since tech support never even comments on this thread yet alone solves the problem, one can only draw the conclusion that "it really doesn't matter" to them. If that sounds like a line from a Bill Murray movie, you're right. Any problem that exists in software for 2 plus years speaks volumes about valuing customer money over customer satisfaction. Good night, world!

[CorradoBarbero]

Personally, I adopted the registry hack and happy with that. Stupid icons gone, the tray icon will tell me if everything is synced (which is the only info I need).
Every now and then the icons appear again, I just need to run the .reg again and a .bat to restart Windows Explorer.
Having everything on Dropbox changed my ways anyway, since I have to pause it sometimes to avoid conflicts...