Provides methods to (properly) enable and disable double buffering on a ListView control.

ListViewHelper.cs

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Windows.Forms;

/// <summary>
/// Provides methods to (properly) enable and disable double buffering on a ListView control.
/// Based on Giovanni Montrone's article on CodeProject at
/// <see cref="http://www.codeproject.com/KB/list/listviewxp.aspx"/>,
/// and on the StackOverflow answer at
/// <see cref="http://stackoverflow.com/a/162770/286936"/>.
/// </summary>
public static class ListViewHelper
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Sends the specified message to a window or windows.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="hWnd">
    /// A handle to the window whose window procedure will receive the message.
    /// </param>
    /// <param name="msg">The message to be sent.</param>
    /// <param name="wParam">Additional message-specific information.</param>
    /// <param name="lParam">Additional message-specific information.</param>
    /// <returns>The result of the message processing.</returns>
    [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    private static extern IntPtr SendMessage(
        IntPtr hWnd,
        UInt32 msg,
        IntPtr wParam,
        IntPtr lParam);

    /// <summary>
    /// The LVM_SETEXTENDEDLISTVIEWSTYLE message.
    /// </summary>
    private const int SetExtendedStyle = 0x1036;

    /// <summary>
    /// The LVM_GETEXTENDEDLISTVIEWSTYLE message.
    /// </summary>
    private const int GetExtendedStyle = 0x1037;

    /// <summary>
    /// The LVS_EX_BORDERSELECT extended style.
    /// </summary>
    private const int BorderSelect = 0x00008000;

    /// <summary>
    /// The LVS_EX_DOUBLEBUFFER extended style.
    /// </summary>
    private const int DoubleBuffer = 0x00010000;

    /// <summary>
    /// Enables double buffering on the specified ListView.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="listView">A ListView instance.</param>
    public static void EnableDoubleBuffering(ListView listView)
    {
        if (listView == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException(
                "listView",
                "listView should not be null.");

        IntPtr handle = listView.Handle;

        // Read the current style.
        int styles;
        styles = SendMessage(handle, GetExtendedStyle, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero).ToInt32();

        // Enable double buffering and border select.
        styles |= DoubleBuffer | BorderSelect;

        // Write the new style.
        SendMessage(handle, SetExtendedStyle, IntPtr.Zero, (IntPtr)styles);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Disables double buffering on the specified ListView.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="listView">A ListView instance.</param>
    public static void DisableDoubleBuffering(ListView listView)
    {
        if (listView == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException(
                "listView",
                "listView should not be null.");

        IntPtr handle = listView.Handle;

        // Read the current style.
        int styles;
        styles = SendMessage(handle, GetExtendedStyle, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero).ToInt32();

        // Disable double buffering and border select.
        styles -= styles & DoubleBuffer;
        styles -= styles & BorderSelect;

        // Write the new style.
        SendMessage(handle, SetExtendedStyle, IntPtr.Zero, (IntPtr)styles);
    }
}