Working in background cursor flutter

Platform: ASUS M50-SV
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
Update status: No new updates available as of 2008-06-30

Cursor on desktop continually switches between Normal Select and Working in
Background when a manually initiated or task manager scheduled minimized
script is running. If the cursor is positioned over an item on the desktop,
the flashing stops.

The behaviour is an unnecessary visual distraction.

It can be reproduced on demand using the following milliwait.bat script
running minimized:

@echo off
:loop
milliwait 100
goto loop

where milliwait is as follows:

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdafx.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int APIENTRY WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
LPSTR lpCmdLine,
int nCmdShow)
{
int wait_time;
OutputDebugString ( lpCmdLine );
wait_time = atoi ( lpCmdLine );
Sleep ( wait_time );
return 0;
}

A simpler script (no program) that still demonstrates the problem is
icacls.bat run minimized:

@echo off
:loop
icacls c:\
goto loop

"beetle" <> wrote in message
news:592E6A32-A10F-433E-946E-...
>
> A simpler script (no program) that still demonstrates the problem is
> icacls.bat run minimized:
>
> @echo off
> :loop
> icacls c:\
> goto loop



One suggestion would be be to change your mouse cursor scheme. I use a
combination of the different sized aero arrows here for the different
working modes (small., mediium, large etc) for which the visual variation is
fairly minimal.

--
Jon

"Jon" wrote:

>
> One suggestion would be be to change your mouse cursor scheme. I use a
> combination of the different sized aero arrows here for the different
> working modes (small., mediium, large etc) for which the visual variation is
> fairly minimal.
>
> --
> Jon

Thanks for the input. I've tried them all and Hands 2 incorporates the
background timer into the pointer so that visual vibration is minimal. Is
this supposed to be a feature or is it a bug? Others in the ASUS community
have reported that it first started in vista SP1.

"beetle" <> wrote in message
news:B13F98A5-BE72-4617-97AF-...
>
> Others in the ASUS community
> have reported that it first started in vista SP1.

Maybe it's just an ASUS phenomenon.

"Sinner" wrote:

>
> "beetle" <> wrote in message
> news:B13F98A5-BE72-4617-97AF-...
> >
> > Others in the ASUS community
> > have reported that it first started in vista SP1.
>
> Maybe it's just an ASUS phenomenon.
>
>
>

A definite possibility...there was some mention of a graphics card driver
update with a modded .inf file...but I thought I would confirm that it wasn't
a more general vista issue before messing with the drivers.

(The Variations pointer scheme is even better than Hands 2 for a temporary
work-around.)

"beetle" <> wrote in message
news:592E6A32-A10F-433E-946E-...
>
> A simpler script (no program) that still demonstrates the problem is
> icacls.bat run minimized:
>
> @echo off
> :loop
> icacls c:\
> goto loop


I didn't see the symptom you describe.
When your script is run in a minimized window I see no impact at all.


--
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"Colon Terminus" wrote:

> "beetle" <> wrote in message
> news:592E6A32-A10F-433E-946E-...
> >
> > A simpler script (no program) that still demonstrates the problem is
> > icacls.bat run minimized:
> >
> > @echo off
> > :loop
> > icacls c:\
> > goto loop
>
>
> I didn't see the symptom you describe.
> When your script is run in a minimized window I see no impact at all.
>
>
> --
> Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service
> ------->>>>>>http://www.NewsDemon.com<<<<<<------
> Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access

Updating the nVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS driver from V7.15.11.5680 (07-12-20)
to V7.15.11.6762 (08-02-28) available on support.asus.com did not resolve the
flutter problem. With the Dinosaur pointer scheme dino still does the
jitterbug...but I can live with Variations.

>
>
> "Colon Terminus" wrote:
>
> > "beetle" <> wrote in message
> > news:592E6A32-A10F-433E-946E-...
> > >
> > > A simpler script (no program) that still demonstrates the problem is
> > > icacls.bat run minimized:
> > >
> > > @echo off
> > > :loop
> > > icacls c:\
> > > goto loop
> >
> >
> > I didn't see the symptom you describe.
> > When your script is run in a minimized window I see no impact at all.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service
> > ------->>>>>>http://www.NewsDemon.com<<<<<<------
> > Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access
>

I'm not sure why but icacls.bat no longer produces output nor fails on my
system either. A script which is less sensitive to acl configuration and is
sure to produce output on all systems is help.bat:

@echo off
:loop
help
goto loop

If it is going to fail, it should be immediately obvious since the overhead
time for the dos help command is much reduced.

"beetle" <> wrote in message
news:49A07731-E771-49CC-8AA6-...
>>
>>
>> "Colon Terminus" wrote:
>>
>> > "beetle" <> wrote in message
>> > news:592E6A32-A10F-433E-946E-...
>> > >
>> > > A simpler script (no program) that still demonstrates the problem is
>> > > icacls.bat run minimized:
>> > >
>> > > @echo off
>> > > :loop
>> > > icacls c:\
>> > > goto loop
>> >
>> >
>> > I didn't see the symptom you describe.
>> > When your script is run in a minimized window I see no impact at all.
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service
>> > ------->>>>>>http://www.NewsDemon.com<<<<<<------
>> > Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access
>>
>
> I'm not sure why but icacls.bat no longer produces output nor fails on my
> system either. A script which is less sensitive to acl configuration and
> is
> sure to produce output on all systems is help.bat:
>
> @echo off
> :loop
> help
> goto loop
>
> If it is going to fail, it should be immediately obvious since the
> overhead
> time for the dos help command is much reduced.
>
>
>
>


Once again, no problem at all here.

This is symptomatic of what is wrong with Vista; some users, me included,
find Vista to be an excellent O/S and prefer it while others with what
should be equivalent hardware find it virtually unusable.

Although I enjoy Vista, I'm certain there is something deep within the very
core of the Operating System that is fundamentally flawed. There is just way
too much anecdotal evidence to believe otherwise.



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