[SOLVED] Bizarre click/interface behavior

[hiybbprqag]

Asked this question a few days ago on the Microsoft forums and received no response, so I'm trying here.

This isn't happening right now, but it's happened several times in the past week so I'm sure it will happen again soon.

Occasionally, the interface and mouse will start behaving in very unusual ways that make navigation near impossible. I'm on a desktop, but I have a wireless keyboard with a touchpad, and the issues occur with both the touchpad and the mouse. Navigating menus with the keyboard only does not fix the issues. Strange events include:

• Upon right-clicking, the context menu won't show, but it's still "there" since I can click in the right place to open a link in a new tab.
• I'll go to the desktop and it will be completely black, taking a while to restore the visibility of the background and icons.
• When on the desktop, the computer thinks I'm on the browser, as I can click places on the screen where links should be to open those links.
• Attempting to switch to another program on the taskbar or to open the start menu doesn't work and the display remains the same.
• Or, trying to e.g. open Chrome doesn't work at first, but then I try to open File Explorer and Chrome opens, as though the interface is a click behind.
• If I do manage to open the start menu, the cursor looks like it's slightly above where it actually is.
• Upon closing a window, a thin border the shape and size of the window will stick around for a while.
• After opening Windows Defender, the blue shield graphic stayed in place even after the program opened and wouldn't go away even after switching back to another program.

Restarting fixes the problem just fine, but the problem is that it keeps coming back within the next couple of days. I have no idea what could be causing this. My temperatures are fine and Windows Defender tells me that no action is needed. I haven't changed anything with my system to trigger this, this just started happening one day seemingly for no reason. (I did replace most of my system a couple months ago, but these problems have been occurring for only about a week.) Any ideas what could be causing this and how to stop it from continuing to happen?

 

[gardenman]

Welcome to the forums.

This sounds like a typical video driver issue. Download DDU and the latest version of your driver. Reboot into safe mode. Run DDU to remove current video driver. Unplug from internet (this prevents Windows Update from installing a driver for you). Boot back into normal mode. Install latest driver. Reconnect to internet. Detailed instructions can be found [here].

When you replaced most of your system, did you replace the motherboard? If so, a reinstall of Windows is almost always necessary because remnants of the old drivers are left on the system. If you don't reinstall Windows, weird things can happen (similar to the things you have described).