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

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

alan78
New member | Level 2

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

83 Replies 83

Not applicable

Hi @pepehands,

 

If you do not want to put the hands in the registry, give a try to ShellExView which is a free tool that can easily enable/disable any unwanted shell extensions for you. This method do not delete those keys so it should be a better workaround :wink:

 

Hope this will help!

 

Edit: Be sure that you only disable Icon Overlay Handler as shown below:

Screenshot_2.png

Then restart explorer with Ctrl+E to apply the changes.

pepehands
Helpful | Level 5

@anonymous This is brilliant. I can't believe it took so long to connect this tool to this problem. Much better than ad hoc registry deletions. ShellExView is good.

 

With this tool, we can possibly finish our work as croudsourced unpaid Dropbox interns and help them debug their overlay code.

 

Dropbox support - if you're listening - please send this to tool to the devs who are working on the shell extensions. Also maybe include this link:

 

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Shell Extensions"

 

ALSO - 

 

To those that haven't given up (or can't) - I recommend combining forces with others who have issues with Dropbox's horrible implementation of the icon overlays - I found this thread - there are probably others. This is a request to allow users to disable the overlays:

 

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Add-option-to-disable-icon-overlays-in-Windows-Explorer/idi-p/412106

 

IMPORTANT: there's a box on that page "vote for this idea" - go vote for it and maybe +1 the thread to give the problem more visibility.

 

I really hate that we have to do this, but if we're stuck with Dropbox, might as well try to make them do what we're paying them for.

 

 

drdogbot7
Helpful | Level 5

> This is a request to allow users to disable the overlays:

>

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Add-option-to-disable-icon-overlays-in-Windows-Explore...

>

> IMPORTANT: there's a box on that page "vote for this idea" - go vote for it and maybe +1 the thread to give the problem more visibility.

 

@pepehands, while they're at it, maybe they could even give us a third option for the icon overlays:

 

  1. constantly flickering icon overlays (classic mode)
  2. disable icon overlays
  3. properly functioning icon overlays

Ray W.2
Helpful | Level 6

I have been having the flashing or blinking icons in File Explorer for several months now. I have reached out to Dropbox Support and have reloaded and clean installed etc. to no avail.  I have also sent them videos of the screen.  As other have reported I have the idential issue on three computers, quite high end specs, two laptops and a desktop, all Windows 10 Pro and different ages but completely up-to-date. I have 330,000 files (many photos) and 1.2TB of data in Dropbox.  I have virtually all folders as Local on the desktop, and selected folders as Local on the laptops.  If I am oganising files and folders the only way I can manage this and stay sane is to exit from Dropbox, and then restart it when I've finished those tasks.  After exiting Dropbox everything is fine.    

As I have decided I want all my data in the cloud, and selected Dropbox for this, it is very disappointing that this issue continues with no real support from the Dropbox developers it would seem.  All my interactions with customer support have been the "try this" stuff, although it has apparently been sent to the techs, but no response. Maybe they're all working on new features! However, as others have commented, it really is a showstopper and I'm now also looking at OneDrive.  

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    Ray W.2 Helpful | Level 6
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    drdogbot7 Helpful | Level 5
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