Troubleshooting the Frosted Window Effect on Windows 10

If you’ve been experiencing a peculiar frosted appearance on certain application windows in Windows 10, you’re not alone. Many users, including myself, have encountered this visual glitch affecting various programs, such as the Epic Games launcher, IntelliJ, and Visual Studio Code.

What’s Causing This Issue?

Over the past month, I noticed the frost-like effect primarily in the Epic Games launcher, but it began spreading to other applications. The flickering phenomenon seemed to resolve itself temporarily when hovering the mouse over the affected areas; however, the issue would reappear once the windows were idle.

After some digging, I learned that this problem could be rooted in the Electron framework, which many modern applications utilize. A Stack Overflow discussion confirmed similar issues—indicating that the glitch is not isolated.

Check out the discussion here.

How to Resolve the Problem

If you’re encountering this visual annoyance, I recommend trying a simple fix that has worked wonders for me. Disabling hardware acceleration within Visual Studio Code resolved the issue across all affected applications.

Here’s How to Disable Hardware Acceleration in VS Code:

1. Open Visual Studio Code.
2. Navigate to the settings by clicking on the gear icon in the lower-left corner.
3. Select “Settings” from the menu.
4. In the search bar, type “hardware acceleration.”
5. Find the option labeled “Enable Hardware Acceleration” and uncheck it.
6. Restart VS Code.

After implementing this change, I noticed that the frosted effect disappeared not just from VS Code but also from other affected applications.

Conclusion

If you’re grappling with similar graphical glitches on your Windows 10 setup, it’s worth exploring settings related to hardware acceleration in your applications. This minor adjustment can significantly enhance your user experience and eliminate frustrating visual distractions. Feel free to share your experiences or other solutions in the comments below!