Windows sometimes minimizes game and shows the desktop?

Question

For some reason, every once in a while when I'm playing a full-screen game in Windows 7, the game will minimize and focus will be given to the Desktop. I don't know what does this because no other problem appears to activate (nothing new in the taskbar or system tray appears).

This occurs in a variety of games, from a variety of publishers, so it's definitely not the game that's having the problem. When this occurs, I can simply click on the game to go back to it, but it's obviously still quite annoying.

Anyone know what's going on here? Is this a common occurrence with a simple fix? Thanks in advance!

Solution

I'd bet some applications running in background which comes into focus and causes the problem for some reason. It may be one of two:

• one of your own applications as antivirus or firewall (try to look for "allowing full screen mode" or sth like that in your firewall options or just add to the trust list of firewall the applications which causes the problem)
• malware or virus working in background (if you've already checked task manager and startup folder, now it's time to scan your system against viruses)

Perhaps try starting your system into safe mode and checking if the problem still exists.

Comments

[tvdo]

Just note that it may not be possible to play DirectX/full screen (not necessarily related, and non-DX full screen may be possible depending on drivers and the game) games in Safe Mode.

[kurp]

Gary said that the problem occurs for "variety of games, from a variety of publishers", which means it may be possible for at least one of them to check if problem exists in Safe Mode... However - I'd start with firewall settings and reliable av scan...