One of the many bugs found in Windows 10 is causing the desktop screen to flicker on and off, and without an official workaround from Microsoft, users have tried nearly everything, especially because on some devices this problem makes the OS impossible to use.

While it's not yet clear how widespread this issue actually is, Microsoft today offered a workaround for the bug, explaining that most often it's caused by third-party software that aren't fully compatible with Windows 10 (this is one of the reasons many computers didn't get Windows 10 in the first place, but it appears that solving compatibility issues takes more time than initially thought).

“We have received reports of this happening with some third-party software products that cause Explorer.exe to crash repeatedly,” Microsoft briefly stated.

Right now, Microsoft says that screen flickering is happening on Windows 10's desktop because of one of these three apps: Norton Antivirus or other antivirus solution, iCloud, and IDT Audio.

How to fix the problem

Symantec has provided detailed instructions on how to fix the issue if it's caused by Norton Antivirus and it involves rebooting to Safe Mode, downloading and running a dedicated fix app, and then removing and re-installing the antivirus application.

Microsoft too says that rebooting to Safe Mode and removing the app causing problems helps, so it recommends users to do that for iCloud and IDT Audio too.

It's not clear what are the other antivirus solutions that might be causing this problem, but if you're experience similar screen flickering issues on your computer, make sure you give this workaround a try.

Booting to Safe Mode can be done by typing “msconfig” in the Start menu and going to the Boot tab. Enable the Safe boot option and activate Network to make sure that you have Internet access while working in Safe Mode.