Screen Flicker when using Photoshop 7.0

[chewie8008]

Ok, I have had Adobe Photoshop 7.0 installed on my computer for over a year now and this problem just recently started. Everytime I am using Photoshop whatever image i'm working on flickers almost constantly(kinda like a screen refresh). It's just the image i'm working on and not the whole monitor screen. So I think that rules out resolution problems? Regardless, I have a 19' LCD screen set at 1024x768 and it's been set like that for almost a year now without any problems.

I wouldn't think my computer is having any problems running Photoshop as it does not slow down or do any sort of lagging. I have more than enough harddrive space, 70GB hdd has my OS only, 200GB hdd has pictures and music, 250GB hdd has videos. They all still have more than half of their space empty...

One thing i'm thinking might have to do with it is, I have a Logitech mouse(USB) that has been installed for a while(before the problem started) but then for Christmas I got a new Microsoft keyboard that i'm thinking could cause the problem? The software for the mouse and keyboard seemed to be interferring with each other at one point, but I got that straigtened out. I did read that installed the intellipoint software for microsoft 'mice' were causing ppl's screens to flicker, but I think that causes the entire screen to flicker, and not just a portion of it like the problem i'm experiancing... Any help would be great. Thanks!!!

[redwudz]

The mouse/keyboard problems may be the answer.

But another thing to check. I believe PS holds images in RAM memory while it works with them. Watch your hard drive light during the 'flicker'. If you are getting flickering there, maybe PS is using your hard drive as RAM. Doesn't seem likely, but easy to check. If so, you may have a RAM problem.

I would also look to your video card settings. I don't know if PS uses overlay to display files, but in your video card settings, 'Advanced>Troubleshooting', try reducing the hardware acceleration slider to about one third and see if that makes a difference. If so, you might want to update your video card drivers.

[chewie8008]

Ok, I uninstalled the Microsoft Intellipoint software and it seemed to have fixed the problem.

Thanks!

[redwudz]

That's good you found the problem. I found this MS post:

This seems to originate from the "Window-Viewer" functionality, which
can be assigned to a mousebutton. This Window-Viewer function is taking
screenshots all the time from every program running, to build the
special screen upon them.

From: http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public...b6e099aafd&p=1

That sounds like a fairly major software flaw. Apparently programs like PS that hold the image in memory are susceptible to the problem.

[JennyFromTheBloggs]

All the above info is good and correct - but I thought I would add this since Adobe are Crap with their so-called advice. The problem is much more than a flickering screen of course because if you're using lasso the flicker can cause your lasso to snap shut - also happens with other tools. For me this was costing me far too much loss in productivity hence I wrote a batch file. This works in Windows7 and should work for Vista and XP-sp3 and is for Intellipoint software issue.

OK - so for some people the option of removing Intellipoint Drivers completely is not an option for a variety of reasons. I created a simple solution which works like a charm. I run a BATCH FILE that kills the process before I start using Photoshop 7.0 and then running the same bat after I'm done I restart the process.

This is the Batch File (Stuff in-between the lines);
__________________________________________________ __________
@ECHO OFF
CLS
:LOOP
ECHO.
ECHO [K]ILL IPOINT
ECHO [S]TART IPOINT
ECHO E[X]IT THE PROGRAM
ECHO.
ECHO.
:: SET /P prompts for input and sets the variable
:: to whatever the user types
SET Choice=
SET /P Choice=Type the letter and press Enter:
:: The syntax in the next line extracts the substring
:: starting at 0 (the beginning) and 1 character long
IF NOT '%Choice%'=='' SET Choice=%Choice:~0,1%
ECHO.
:: /I makes the IF comparison case-insensitive
IF /I '%Choice%'=='K' GOTO KILL_IP
IF /I '%Choice%'=='S' GOTO START_IP
IF /I '%Choice%'=='X' GOTO END
ECHO "%Choice%" is not valid. Please try again.
ECHO.
GOTO Loop
::
:KILL_IP
taskkill /f /im ipoint.exe
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO *** TERMINATED Intellipoint Process ***
GOTO END
::
:START_IP
start ipoint.exe
ECHO *** STARTED Intellipoint Process ***
GOTO END
::
ECHO.
ECHO.
:END
ECHO.
ECHO *** PRESS A KEY TO EXIT ***
ECHO.
PAUSE
EXIT
__________________________________________________ __________

Since I'm on Win7 I create a link on my TaskBar but you can create a shortcut wherever you want - When the bat (In my Case its called W7_Kill or Start iPoint) runs I hit 'K' (its not case sensitive) to kill ipoint.exe and hit 'S' to start iPoint.exe

There your done!

Oh I should add that killing intellipoint does not stop the mouse from working - as windows defaults to HID compliant instead - restarting the process just gives you back all your button functionality. If you're not familiar with batch files, simply open Notepad or other text editor copy the text between the lines above and then save the file with any name you choose with .bat at the end - Run the bat and follow the on screen instructions. The bat closes automatically when your done!

Hope this helps some of you out!
I registered here just to post this for ya'll so it would be nice to know that it did?

DISCLAIMER
Usual use at your own risk and don't blame me crap disclaimer but don't worry - it should work for you. Its not an intrusive fix its not really that clever but it works. This is written for Microsoft meece in mind but if you have another mouse driver causing the same problem it might solve that too. Just replace the [ipoint.exe] with your own mouse driver issue.