solved in 12.10. most fixes in 12.04 available by sudo apt-add-repository ppa:vanvugt/compiz-preproposed sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install compiz=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-core=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-gnome=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-plugins=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-plugins=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 compiz-plugins-default=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 libdecoration0=1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1vvpreproposed2 http://askubuntu.com/questions/181377/compiz-unity-very-unstable-crashing-very-often-on-12-04 hold compiz with: { echo compiz hold ; echo compiz-core hold ; echo compiz-plugins hold ; echo compiz-gnome hold ; echo compiz-plugins-default hold ; echo libdecoration0 hold ; } | sudo dpkg --set-selections