What to do if your PC screen flickers

Q: The screen of my HP laptop has begun flickering during start-up, right at the point when I would log in to Windows 10. This lasts for a few minutes, then stops and I can log in. This began about the time I installed the AVG PC Tuneup program. What can I do?

Seyed Yarand, Hutchinson, Minn.

A: A flickering screen in Windows 10 is typically caused by an incompatible app or by a problem with the software driver that controls your screen display.

To determine which problem you have, simultaneously hold down the Ctrl, Shift and Esc keys. That will launch the Windows Task Manager, which tells you which programs are currently running. If the Task Manager flickers, the problem is probably a screen display driver. If it doesn't flicker, the problem is most likely caused by an incompatible app.

If you need a new software driver for your screen, go to HP's software download website (tinyurl.com/kp5ljlg) and type the laptop's model name, model number or serial number.

If the problem is an incompatible app, uninstall AVG PC Tuneup, which I suspect is an older version of the program that's not entirely compatible with Windows 10. The most complete way to remove it is to use the "AVG Remover" program (see tinyurl.com/4ykwe3k). Then download "AVG PC Tuneup 2016" (tinyurl.com/mwke3x4) which is Windows 10-compatible.

Q: Years ago, I bought a weather app called My-Cast, which was developed by a company started by TV weather forecaster Paul Douglas. But, starting last year, I had problems using the app, and now it has quit working altogether. What happened?

A: The My-Cast.com weather website was launched in 2001 by a company that later became Digital Cyclone Inc., founded by former WCCO-TV meteorologist Paul Douglas.

Digital Cyclone was sold to GPS device maker Garmin Ltd. in 2007, and the My-Cast website was shut down in 2015. A service supporting a My-Cast app for Apple iOS and Google Android mobile devices was shut down in February of this year (see tinyurl.com/lfsy5ts.)

But there are other good weather apps. For reviews of some sophisticated ones for Apple and Android mobile operating systems (some free, some not), see tinyurl.com/lnb6awo. For a wider range of apps, see tinyurl.com/mga9ugo for iOS and tinyurl.com/ltswkr2 for Android.

Q: I still use VCRs to record TV programs on two older nondigital TVs. I'd like to get a new HDTV, provided that I can connect one of my VCRs to it. Will that work?

Darlene Mahowald, Carver, Minn.