UPDATE 1:
The problem is not a monitor refresh rate flickering problem, as then the whole screen would be flickering. For me, only the application windows flicker in and out of view, then most of the time, when there do decide to show themselves, they only partly show themselves, like just top half, bottom half, left half, corner missing, window disappears when you try moving it or mouse over it even etc etc.
I know it is a visual effect problem as I know my computer cannot handle visual effects and for some reason when the windows do appear partly, I can see the shadows behind the windows. Those shadows are part of the visual effects which are turned on by default for some reason.
I get the same problem with 10.04, but can quickly turn off the visual effects by right clicking the desktop, selecting change background image, and in the visual effects tab, I can click on none, which stops all the visual problems.
ORIGINAL QUESTION:
I am having problems with 11.04 on my computer. For some reason it is enabling visual effects by default in the live cd when it should not be as my computer cannot support such effects. My computer cannot support Unity either, but it defaults to standard gnome with visual effects for some reason. It should be defaulting to standard gnome with no visual effects. THerefore, all I get is a very flickery live cd which makes it very difficult to see anything.
So my question is, how do I disable the visual effects from the live cd?
To put it simply, the live cd flickering is so bad, that I had to log back into my standard 10.04 install just to write this question, as I just couldn't see enough of the screen because of the flickering in 11.04 to even get to askubuntu.com…
Best Answer
Try pressing F4 on the main boot menu screen and selecting "safe graphics mode" as detailed here, although I think this may no longer be offered in 11.04 as it is not included here. Are you sure this is a Compiz-related problem, as Compiz will typically not be activated if it cannot be supported by the hardware.