Screenshots generated every 2 seconds

[tzedragon]

During the log in to my corporate windows machine I've notice that screenshots are being generated every two seconds and sent to the Screenshots folder.  This behaviour isn't initiated by me and it can easily fill up my dropbox.

The only way I've found to stop this behaviour is to point the mouse to the desktop and continually press ESC.  I will then need to go to the Screenshots folder and delete the generated images.

This behaviour is somewhat disturbing and annoying.  It would appear that some process in the background is generating the "screencapture" command or keystrokes.

Has someone in the Community experienced this behaviour?

Does someone have a solution?

I've considered that the behaviour could be related to some corporate software monitoring/usage program and Dropbox is getting caught in the process.

Thanks in advance.

Trevor.

[Lusil]

Hi there @tzedragon, let's see what we can do here. 

Could you first check to see if the desktop app is set to save screenshots to your Dropbox folder?

You can do that navigating to your Backup tab under your desktop app's Preferences.

Have a look and let me know of any updates, thanks!

[tzedragon]

Yes, as per my original post the Screenshots are being saved to Dropbox.
This will take resources as all the files are synched and then shared to my other devices.

[Lusil]

Could you turn off the option to save screenshots to see if that does the trick?

[tzedragon]

Hi @Lusil, 

Here is an update.

This behaviour (Screenshots being generated every 2s) is only experienced at work, on a Corporate SOE Machine.  I don't experience it at home on a Win10 desktop. 

I disabled the command to save screenshots to dropbox and this stopped the behaviour.  Other information I've read seemed to imply that it could be related to a conflict with OneDrive, which is also running on the machine.

I re-enabled saving Screenshots to Dropbox and the machine behaved for about a week.  Recently this behaviour has started happening again and it can only be stopped by clicking on the desktop and repeatedly pressing the ESC key.

[Lusil]

Could you try closing any other third party app while the desktop app is running to see if the issue persists?

Also, is the device in question on a shared network, connected with other users?

[tzedragon]

As originally posted, the device is a corporate Win10 laptop.  I don't have rights to disable third party apps.
What Apps did you have in mind ?  That could interfere with Dropbox?

The device is on a corporate LAN, it is not necessarily connected to other users per se but it does have Skype, Teams, Office etc etc and network drives and TRIM.

[Jay]

Hi @tzedragon, this behavior you're describing, which is unheard of at this time, could be related to three things.

Either your print screen button is somehow broken and constantly pressed, so you can try checking if that is the case by pressing the button and ensuring the button isn't depressed.

The second possibility, especially since you're on a corporate device, is that there could be an app installed by the company to monitor your screen and usage of the device, by taking screenshots at regular intervals.

If it uses the normal screenshot feature (i.e. emulating the print screen button), then it could activate the Dropbox feature, and move the screenshots to your Dropbox folder unintentionally. If it exists, their app could be sending these screenshots somewhere else.

I'd recommend checking this with your IT department to see if this is the case, since the screenshot feature will only work if a request for a print screen was made.

The third possibility is just like above, except this is malicious software doing the screenshots, from malware or a virus, which is more concerning, so a virus scan would help you out.