Windows 10: Storage Services causing Windows Explorer crash/flickering on login

My computer flickers and is unusable for about 15 minutes after initial login. I went through msconfig and disabled all the services until I determined which one was causing it. The service that was causing it was Storage Services. It seemed to have started after an update a while ago. It happened on both my desktop and my laptop but seems to have stopped happening with my laptop.

:)

 

Screen flicker and hangup on desktop screen

The short term fix for me was to roll back to Windows 7. I did not have the time to work through the issues but will try again in a week or so. I had a call in to the Microsoft Answer Desk and got a call back after I rolled back. Pasted below are the suggestions
to attempt find the problem. In my case, I suspect Norton was the culprit since that was the common product on both my desktops and I was not seeing a flicker in Task Manager window.

From the Microsoft Answer Desk:

Here are the Steps for the Flickering issue.

If we see the screen flickering after sign-in there are two possible causes - apps causing Explorer to crash, or display driver issues.

To start, press this key combination: CTRL+SHIFT+ESC

If this opens Task Manager and that window is NOT flickering:The likely cause is Software Compatibility issue causing Explorer.exe to crash repeatedly.

• Use the File, Run option in Task Manager to open additional tools as-needed. Be sure to check the box to run tools as Administrator. These could include:
  
  appwiz.cpl: Opens Programs and Features
  
  compmgmt.msc: Opens Computer Management
  
  cmd.exe
• You can search for crash events in the Event Logs and find if any third party DLLs are the faulting module in the Explorer,.exe crashes Or uninstall software that is likely to include shell extensions.
  
• If removing software does not resolve the issue, use these commands to repair Windows:
  
  dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
  
  sfc /scannow

We have reports that removing these apps help resolve the issue:

• Norton Antivirus
• Other AV solutions
• iCloud
• IDT Audio (faulting module IDTNC64.cpl)

If Task Manager is flickering, or it didn't open, proceed with display driver troubleshooting:
The likely cause is a display driver or display hardware issue.

• Boot to Safe Mode with Networking.
• Use the same steps here as for Black Screen issues - if dual chipset, disable built-in graphics, if still flickers, try with only the other chipset enabled.
  
• If this does not work, or there is only a single chipset, uninstall the device and remove the driver software.
  
• Then boot into Windows and update the drivers to the latest from the manufacturer.
  

Here are the Steps for the Flickering issue.

If we see the screen flickering after sign-in there are two possible causes - apps causing Explorer to crash, or display driver issues.

 

Windows Explorer crashes and thumbnails problem

Hi, I hope you can help me.
Windows Explorer is no longer showing thumbnails on files played by Windows Media Player. I've run cmd and regsvr32 shmedia.dll and regsvr32 shimgvw.dll. That seemed to solve the problem...but it created a different one. Now when I try to open a folder on an external hard drive it crashes. I read in an old 2008 post it was an avi file causing the problem and suggested the run cmd regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll. That solved the opening problem but recreated the thumbnail problem. Any help to achieve both functions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Flickering Home Screen and No Start Menu

Hi Ben,

This issue could be caused due to some corrupt files or app conflicts. I would suggest you to try these steps and check:

To start, press this key combination: CTRL+SHIFT+ESC

If this opens Task Manager and that window is NOT flickering:

The likely cause is Software Compatibility issue causing Explorer.exe to crash repeatedly.

• Use the File, Run option in Task Manager to open additional tools as-needed. Be sure to check the box to run tools as Administrator. These could include:
  
  appwiz.cpl: Opens Programs and Features
  
  compmgmt.msc: Opens Computer Management
  
  cmd.exe
• You can search for crash events in the Event Logs and find if any third party DLLs are the faulting module in the Explorer,.exe crashes Or uninstall software that is likely to include shell extensions.
  
• If removing software does not resolve the issue, use these commands to repair Windows:
  
  dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
  
  sfc /scannow

We have reports that removing these apps help resolve the issue:

• Norton Antivirus
• Other AV solutions
• iCloud
• IDT Audio (faulting module IDTNC64.cpl)

If Task Manager is flickering, or it didn’t open, proceed with display driver troubleshooting:

The likely cause is a display driver or display hardware issue.

• Boot to Safe Mode with Networking.
• Use the same steps here as for Black Screen issues – if dual chipset, disable built-in graphics, if still flickers, try with only the other chipset enabled.
  
• If this does not work, or there is only a single chipset, uninstall the device and remove the driver software.
  

[*]Then boot into Windows and update the drivers to the latest from the manufacturer.