So, after I fixed the two screen problem I was having with my Ubuntu setup, I started getting an odd flickering.

This flickering didn’t affect the whole screen, rather it seemed to be something to do with window repainting, and it became even worse after I updated to 14.04.

I run a slightly non-traditional configuration, in that I run Gnome2 fallback rather than Gnome3 or Unity, therefore this probably won’t effect a lot of people, and is probably why it persists.

After a bit of digging, I discovered that this is actually a compiz issue. Here’s a summary of the fix:

Fixing the flicker

• Install the compiz settings manager: apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
• Scroll down to “Workarounds” in the “Utility” section:

• Select “Force full screen redraws (buffer swap) on repaint”:

Once this is done, your windows should repaint as normal.