Icons/programs flickering in background of Warcraft 3

[ixmike88]

I built a new pc about 4 months ago now and have this problem since I've had it: when I have Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne maximized, my background icons and some programs (ventrilo and garena mostly) begin to flicker a lot. i have dual monitors and when i have warcraft in focus it becomes a huge distraction (and im pretty sure it causes lag to my war3 since my fps drops from capped to 40-50ish), this problem never happened on my old pc

specs:
windows xp sp3
intel core i5 cpu 750 2.67ghz
4gb g.skill ram
ati radeon hd 4770
monitor 1 (main): optiquest q2201wb
monitor 2: acer b203w
both monitor resolutions: 1680x1050
both monitors refresh rate: 60hz

i have spent a lot of time in the catalyst control center trying to fix this issue however nothing helps

my warcraft's resolution is 1600x1200x32 and i thought this would be the issue since it's bigger than my desktop resolution however when i used other resolutions (1280x1050 for example) everything was still flickering

i have tried messing with the refresh rates of warcraft and it matches my monitors (60), and i have also tried setting my monitors to 75hz and the same issue is still there

i have also tried turning my main monitor into my secondary and my secondary into my main one however the problem still exists

vertical sync is disabled by default

not sure what other info to add, just ask if you need something

thanks

 

[ruready2]

Your ram and cpu are good but, what about your graphics? What card do you have and what are the specs of it?

 

[ixmike88]

newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150369

this is the card, ati radeon hd 4770, let me know if you need anything else

 

[ruready2]

Hmmmm... the graphics are good too. What about your virtual memory? Have you changed/adjusted it? Look and see what it is set to. Try 1.5 X your ram.

 

[ixmike88]

i don't recall changing it but i might have at one point, but it's set to 2046-4092mb, do you think i should set it higher?

 

[ruready2]

Yeah.. absolutely set it higher. You have 4gb of ram which is 4096mb. You are only using half of what is available. Set it to 6144mb.

 

[ixmike88]

do i set the initial to 6144 or just the maximum or do i set it to 6144-6144?

 

[ruready2]

Sorry for not including all the instructions. Set the initial to 6144 and double that for the max.

 

[ixmike88]

it's set, thanks for the help, hope it solves it

 

[ruready2]

You are welcome. Let me know if it solves it or not. If it doesn't file suit against Microsoft..lol

 

[ixmike88]

it happened again earlier today, it happens only when warcraft 3 is maximized/in focus

Process PID CPU Private Bytes Working Set Description Company Name
System Idle Process 0 96.92 0 K 28 K
Interrupts n/a 0.38 0 K 0 K Hardware Interrupts
DPCs n/a 0.38 0 K 0 K Deferred Procedure Calls
System 4 0 K 320 K
smss.exe 712 172 K 408 K Windows NT Session Manager Microsoft Corporation
csrss.exe 760 2,080 K 7,504 K Client Server Runtime Process Microsoft Corporation
winlogon.exe 792 11,964 K 2,320 K Windows NT Logon Application Microsoft Corporation
services.exe 836 0.38 1,808 K 3,584 K Services and Controller app Microsoft Corporation
ati2evxx.exe 1008 1,972 K 3,616 K ATI External Event Utility EXE Module ATI Technologies Inc.
svchost.exe 1036 3,148 K 5,128 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
wmiprvse.exe 3320 2,460 K 6,636 K WMI Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1104 4,992 K 7,516 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1208 12,732 K 20,872 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1288 1,956 K 4,244 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1372 1,832 K 4,708 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
ccSetMgr.exe 1464 3,732 K 3,984 K Symantec Settings Manager Service Symantec Corporation
ccEvtMgr.exe 1552 4,096 K 3,040 K Symantec Event Manager Service Symantec Corporation
SPBBCSvc.exe 1764 5,728 K 1,120 K SPBBC Service Symantec Corporation
spoolsv.exe 1884 3,160 K 4,780 K Spooler SubSystem App Microsoft Corporation
BCUService.exe 616 528 K 1,876 K Browser Configuration Utility Auto-recovery Service DeviceVM, Inc.
DefWatch.exe 660 1,572 K 5,084 K Virus Definition Daemon Symantec Corporation
jqs.exe 728 2,312 K 1,400 K Java(TM) Quick Starter Service Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Rtvscan.exe 1056 37,148 K 66,704 K Symantec AntiVirus Symantec Corporation
lsass.exe 848 3,868 K 6,196 K LSA Shell (Export Version) Microsoft Corporation
ati2evxx.exe 1512 2,460 K 4,612 K ATI External Event Utility EXE Module ATI Technologies Inc.
explorer.exe 156 53,480 K 42,328 K Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation
VPTray.exe 1268 6,940 K 11,776 K Symantec AntiVirus Symantec Corporation
BCU.exe 1276 1,196 K 4,664 K Browser Configuration Utility DeviceVM, Inc.
realsched.exe 1248 4,440 K 184 K RealNetworks Scheduler RealNetworks, Inc.
RTHDCPL.EXE 1408 29,312 K 35,416 K Realtek HD Audio Control Panel Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
ctfmon.exe 1416 4,440 K 7,552 K CTF Loader Microsoft Corporation
trillian.exe 892 44,636 K 30,944 K Trillian Cerulean Studios
Garena.exe 2412 61,212 K 38,724 K Garena Garena Online PTE LTD
War3.exe 656 352,740 K 353,952 K Warcraft III Blizzard Entertainment
AutoHotkey.exe 2364 5,484 K 7,848 K AutoHotkey
calc.exe 3880 4,908 K 7,820 K Windows Calculator application file Microsoft Corporation
wmplayer.exe 3724 37,344 K 7,628 K Windows Media Player Microsoft Corporation
firefox.exe 2316 1.15 259,512 K 273,928 K Firefox Mozilla Corporation
procexp.exe 3336 0.38 13,268 K 18,444 K Sysinternals Process Explorer Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com
BitTorrent.exe 2756 0.38 40,472 K 44,388 K BitTorrent BitTorrent, Inc.
conime.exe 400 4,472 K 6,668 K Console IME Microsoft Corporation

here is a list of all of my processes open

i also noticed my fps dropped from capped (60) to 50-55ish as the icons in the background were flashing, when i close explorer.exe my fps goes back to normal, all of my desktop icons disappear when i close it so i'm assuming they are related

everything that runs under explorer.exe:

explorer.exe 156 53,480 K 42,328 K Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation
VPTray.exe 1268 6,940 K 11,776 K Symantec AntiVirus Symantec Corporation
BCU.exe 1276 1,196 K 4,664 K Browser Configuration Utility DeviceVM, Inc.
realsched.exe 1248 4,440 K 184 K RealNetworks Scheduler RealNetworks, Inc.
RTHDCPL.EXE 1408 29,312 K 35,416 K Realtek HD Audio Control Panel Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
ctfmon.exe 1416 4,440 K 7,552 K CTF Loader Microsoft Corporation
trillian.exe 892 44,636 K 30,944 K Trillian Cerulean Studios
Garena.exe 2412 61,212 K 38,724 K Garena Garena Online PTE LTD
War3.exe 656 352,740 K 353,952 K Warcraft III Blizzard Entertainment
AutoHotkey.exe 2364 5,484 K 7,848 K AutoHotkey
calc.exe 3880 4,908 K 7,820 K Windows Calculator application file Microsoft Corporation
wmplayer.exe 3724 37,344 K 7,628 K Windows Media Player Microsoft Corporation
firefox.exe 2316 1.15 259,512 K 273,928 K Firefox Mozilla Corporation
procexp.exe 3336 0.38 13,268 K 18,444 K Sysinternals Process Explorer Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

all of these processes are almost always open with the exception of process explorer and probably calculator, could some process be conflicting with war3?

the new processes that this computer has compared to my old one are vptray.exe/bcu.exe/rthdcpl.exe

thanks for any help

 

[gbhall]

Sounds like something linked to explorer.exe, which is your user shell. Stopping it causes your desktop to stop and the icons disappear. Explorer.exe can also be a spyware program, as can a number of the other programs you mention. The legitimate version from MS or other supplier is replaced by an imitation, which is actually doing some of the things the legit program does, but also spying on your pc, logging keystrokes etc etc.

One step you take could be to see where all those applications actually start from. Do a search for explorer.exe (and all the other programs too). Anything that appears in the wrong place (i.e. not under c:\windows\system etc, etc) or occurs more than once is obviously a wrong 'un. Next you can right-click each program to get it's version, exact bytes and compare it to what it should be (ref MS)

If everything checks out, next we look for compatibility problems. Do you really need all those add-on utilities? Like AutoHotkey, wmplayer, bcusched, jcs, bcu, rthdpcl, realsched, ati2evxx.

Stop them all loading at windows startup (temporarily at least, you probably could do without any of them long-term.)

If no solution from that, disable your network and completely stop Symantec and all it's processes. Symantec, unfortunately, is at the root of far too many problems. If it's symantec, then obviously, junk it and use one of the excellent free anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall. Plenty of options see the forum on here.

 

[ruready2]

Actually, I did read somewhere that Norton was causing a similar issue. I will defer the remainder of your topic to gbhall. He knows alot more about this type thing than I. Thanks for posting and sorry I could not be of more help to you. I will continue to watch this topic as I am interested in learning the solution myself.

 

[ixmike88]

all i need is autohotkey and wmp, but i wasn't entirely sure how important the other stuff is since they're mostly driver software related, i will try closing symantec when this happens again, thanks