So I've been having an issue with Windows 11 and virtual desktops. When I switch desktops some of the taskbar icons are missing their icons. It's a placeholder with a blank icon. There is a forum post on the Microsoft forums about it as others are having the same issue. Changing desktops will cause some taskbar icons to come back and others to go away. It's completely random. It is absolutely driving me nuts because I have to hover over the missing icons to find out the app name.

Well tonight after complete desperation I disabled animation effects in Windows 11. Wow!! It resolved the issue!!! Finally. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. It even resolved the issue with virtual desktop switching lag. Switching between desktops is instant now. I am in productivity heaven!

With all that being said when I go to the desktop I've lost all my Stardock prettiness. Wallpaper is gone. Fences no longer has the beautiful blend effect. So it looks like I have to choose between productivity and beauty.

This is a brand new laptop at work with an i7 and 16GB. Now the only thing I can think of is maybe the graphics card is under powered and causing this issue? I didn't spec it out. Device manager shows Intel Iris XE Graphics. This is a work machine mind you.

Right now it looks like I'm going to have to choose between productivity and having a pretty interface. The machine seems unusable now that I use it more and I'm not sure if it's because of the animations being turned off or because the Stardock apps are installed and it wants the animation effects enabled. Unfortunately because of how fast it's running now I'm going to have to choose productivity.

Has no one else run into this issue?

Thanks.