Flickering Web Pages In IE and Terminal Services
Monday, 6 April 2009
A frustrating problem we experience is the rapid flickering of web pages in Internet Explorer, under Terminal Services. The server is running Windows 2000 Advanced Server with Internet Explorer version 6 installed. Many web pages are fine however certain sites are rendered unusable as they flicker too much. When this happens it is usually the entire window which flickers.
I found a Microsoft help and support article, Q271246, at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/271246, which suggests navigating to:
- Internet Options->Tools->Advanced Tab
- Browsing
- Force offscreen compositing even under Terminal Server (Requires restart)
- Click OK
- Restart Internet Explorer 6
After setting this option the flickering disappeared however the websites now move so slowly they are unusable. I am still on the lookout for a fix to this problem and will post an update if I find one.

Jason Slater is an independent technologist and blogger.