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Touch keyboard icon constantly flashing

Anonymous
2015-12-04T06:14:26+00:00

I have a Dell 15r laptop which has a touch screen.

Recently, the touch screen keyboard icon, located on my taskbar next to the date/time and other icons, keeps flashing constantly. (Here is a video of it ). This is when I am not using the touchscreen at all. Nothing really triggers it, it just flashes intermittently. It doesn't matter whether I am actually doing anything on my laptop or afk, it still flashes. This has become a problem because it also flashes my pdf reader, sometimes my browser, or other programs. It even freezes my computer, causing me to have to force shut down my laptop.

Here are some things I have tried:

  1. Right clicking the icon and disabling it from the taskbar. It goes away for a second then pops back up and does the flash thing again.
  2. Going to services.msc, then disabling the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel service. Keyboard disappears for a moment, but then reappears instantly. Restarting also didn't help.
  3. Going to regedit into Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Wisp\Touch and changing TouchUI to 0. I had found this solution online, but my TouchUI was already at 0, so that didn't help either.
  4. Restarting my computer. Sometimes the flashing icon will stay away for a while (maybe an hour or two), but always reappears by itself.
  5. Disabling the track pad and cleaning the touch screen. No change.
  6. Using the keyboard troubleshooter wizard I found a solution to another person's post. No change.

Please let me know what I can do. Thanks!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Search, touch, and mouse

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-05-29T12:11:29+00:00

    Actually, I found the solution to the issue I was having. It turns out it was my touch screen that was bugging out. I think it kept thinking it was being pressed somehow. I ended up just disabling my touch screen and the icon stopped flashing.

    I followed the following instructions from this link, which resolved the problem for me.

    Right-click on the Start button to open the WinX Menu. From the WinX Menu, open Device Manager and search for Human Interface Devices. Expand it.

    Then, right-click on HID-compliant touch screen and from the list of options displayed, select ‘Disable’.

    Instantly, a confirmation pop-up will appear on your device screen, requesting you to confirm the decision. Disabling this device will cause it to stop functioning. Do you really want to disable it? Click ‘Yes.’

    Your touch screen functionality will be disabled immediately.

    At any point if you would like to enable touch screen functionality again, simply go back to the Device Manager, right-click HID compliant touch screen, and select Enable.

    Remember, you will be required to restart your PC to enable the touch screen functionality again.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-05-27T21:01:19+00:00

    Fix found!

    This is really annoying. It eats up your processing power and makes your mouse have the loading symbol all the time (terrible for when you're trying to read/watch things). You won't find the answer on microsoft (or at least, I didn't) because they don't want layman users to mess with their PCs.

    I don't know exactly why it does this, but "Tib Tab.exe" constantly bugs out and flashes on and off. You can't stop the process because it keeps popping back up every time you try to end it, and disabling the service does nothing as far as I can tell.

    The Fix:

    You actually have to take permission of and then rename the Tib Tab.exe file so that windows can't use it and it can't bug out. You might be able to delete it but honestly I have a lot of trouble getting rid of base-install windows programs (looking at you, bing and cortana).

    The article I used was here; https://discuss.howtogeek.com/t/how-to-permanently-disable-the-touch-keyboard-in-windows-8-and-10/48199

    Just follow the directions of the last option and your computer use will be hassle-free.

    Note: this problem may occur again, especially after a windows update. This is because the update will have installed another "Tib Tab.exe". Just follow the directions to disable this one as well (I have two of these files just lying around).

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-01-08T23:49:06+00:00

    Has this issue been resolved? If so, how? I have exact same problem on HP PC.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-04T20:08:15+00:00

    Thank you for your suggestions. Unfortunately, updating also did not help and the suggestions to turn off the touch keyboard did not work either.

    I actually tried instead to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to 10 to see if that fixed the problem. I had some trouble updating to Windows 10 previously, but after uninstalling my antivirus, I was able to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. So, that actually fixed it for me.

    Edit: Actually, it seems the problem still persists, although now I am unsure if it is related to the keyboard. The right side of the taskbar seems to keep flashing from time to time. There isn't anything that prompts this behavior. It just happens on its own. Please help.

    Here is a video of it occurring.

    Thanks!

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-12-04T19:42:44+00:00

    Hi,

    Thank you for posting the query on Microsoft Community.

    I do appreciate your efforts and time.

    Try to install all Windows updates.

    1. Open Windows Update by swiping in from the right edge of the screen (or, if you're using a mouse, pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen and moving the mouse pointer up), tapping or clicking Settings, tapping or clicking Change PC settings, and then tapping or clicking Update and recovery.
    2. Tap or click Check now, and then wait while Windows looks for the latest updates for your PC.
    3. If updates are found, tap or click Install updates.

    If you do not want to use it you can turn it off.

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/using-touch-keyboard

    Try to place the system in the Clean Boot and check.

    This helps eliminate software conflicts that occur when you install a program or an update or when you run a program in Windows. It starts Windows by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs.

    How to perform a Clean Boot in Windows: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

    Note: After troubleshooting, refer to this section "How to reset the computer to start normally after clean boot troubleshooting" in the above link.

    Hope this helps in resolving the issue. If the issue persists, do get back to us. We will be happy to assist you.

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