Office 16 (Word, Outlook, Excel) QAT blinking on several users

Hey Experts.  Odd issue being reported on four of my Windows 7 computers.  I deployed 20+ updates to several OU's on Saturday night.  On Monday, 4 computers out of 20 in one OU reported that when they open Word, Outlook or Excel, the QAT blinks repeatedly and makes the app unusable.  No other computers in any of the other OU's reported any problems.  3 of the computers are the same model (hp dc5750) and 1 is an HP 3130.

I compared the 4 experiencing an issue to a couple out of the 20 working computers to see if there was any glaring differences and even after checking for differences in Office/OS patches, or computer driver versions, nothing sticks out.  

So far I've:

• run a repair on the Office suite
• tried starting the various apps in safe mode
• logging in with a different user account (including one with admin rights)
• deploying additional Office 2016 patches to one of the computers so it was completely up to date

I'm out of ideas.  Any suggestions on where to go next or how to trouble-shoot further?  Thanks in advance experts!