I was surprised the other day and distracted in my work when I saw the pane background of Word to flash periodically and show distortions, something like several thin lines, while also the darkness of the background changed, it became darker in several locations!

Trying to change some settings, nothing helped. Then I thought about video drivers, in case there was some incompatibility with Office and my drivers. No joy!

Finally I noticed that this strange behavior occurred only when Google Chrome was open on a particular web page that was updated automatically by a web app!

I minimized Chrome, but the problem was still there. The same when I closed Chrome. It seems that this web page introduces some permanent change in the interface of Office programs. Finally I restarted Word, without starting Chrome. The problem was gone, and appeared again when I opened the same web site even with Firefox (although with Firefox disappeared immediately after I closed the browser).

Therefore, if you suffer something similar, just check what web page you are viewing, or even if some other dynamically updated application produces these visual distortions in the background of MS Office programs. Note that this may happen you use the White interface. If you change the interface, e.g., to “colorful”, the problem disappears and you can enjoy your favorite web page and your Office application simultaneously.

Enjoy!