Windows 10: Ghost frame on desktop. help!

Hi, do you have anything generating drop shadows?
Y'z shadow or maybe Stardock ShadowFX?

I found the former, until I set an exception, left these behind associated with universal apps.
Does terminating ApplicationFrameHost.exe clear the empty frames?

 

I don't use any of those but I'll try the ApplicationFrameHost.exe termination next time the bug occurs. Thanks.

 

Just tested this when a ghost frame appeared, it changed nothing.

 

Perhaps I should direct this at the OP but I'll direct it at everyone.
Where did the wallpaper come from? Could the wallpaper cache be corrupt?

 

Hi Faskil, that it's not associated with ApplicationFramehost.exe suggests it's not associated with one of the universal apps, for example.

I was trying to think what reveals hidden windows that I used a very long time ago..
You could try Nirsoft's Winlister (it's specified to Win 8, runs for me)- it shows which windows are hidden. Might give a clue...
WinLister v1.22 - display the list of opened windows on your system

 

Noted you seem to have set aside Amythyr's and satchmo's ideas.... Irrespective of the fact it seems random, Windows without anything added, wouldn't do this. So a process of elimination..

(Note- might even be sthg you have scheduled (but noted it seems random so unlikely), which Amythyr's comment wouldn't include).

 

I will try this, thanks. *Smile

 

I just wanted to comment that this is not an isolated issue, I am experiencing the exact same issue and so far, none of the suggested solutions worked. Has anyone had any success in figuring out what these frames are? They don't seem to detract from performance at all, but they are certainly annoying.

 

Have you tried what I suggested: You could try Nirsoft's Winlister (it's specified to Win 8, runs for me)- it shows which windows are hidden. Might give a clue...
WinLister v1.22 - display the list of opened windows on your system

The only time I've experienced this myself was as an artefact created by Y'z shadow (drop shadows) related to the universal apps (ApplicationFrameHost.exe).

 

I used Winlister to determine that it is an Explorer frame, Windows Explorer I think it said, but it actually had the designation of "Hidden." When I stopped that process the frame disappeared. I haven't been able to repeat the occurrence, so I'm still trying to ascertain the cause.

 

I think it's likely to be tricky, but you can start by being observant as to when this occurs and what has just happened- note the times, recent events.

As for a technical approach to determining parent process, see for example
How to Determine the Parent Process of a Running Process in Windows? - The Winhelponline Blog

- download the Sysinternals utilities so you are ready.

Note that using these means handling very lengthy logs- Process Monitor has extremely comprehensive filtering, but it quickly takes you into unfamiliar terminology.

If the shadow frames occurred at all regularly you could obviously try a process of elimination, but that's probably not feasible here.

 

I know this is an old thread, but I signed up just to answer this because I spent a lot of time looking for a solution and ended up finding one on my own. The problem is AirDroid. I noticed the OP had the AirDroid icon on his taskbar which lead me to uninstall it and wouldn't you know... It went away.

 

Spot on! Just closing AirDroid got rid of them. Have you told Airdroid? Thanks. Kev

 

well I just started having this issue and I have airdroid as well. thanks for finding the culprit!

 

Made an account to upvote this as the solution on my PC, good job