Computer repeatedly reverts to the desktop when playing games, browsing web, etc.

[chezzer240]

Hi,

My OS system (Windows 7) works fine, everything is running smoothly, however, when I play games they continue running for maybe 1-3 minutes before the window closes and the computer switches back to the desktop (as if I had just used alt + tab). The game is still running, it is just minimised and I have to click on its icon again.

This also happens when browsing the internet, though the window doesn't minimize. So for example as I'm typing this the computer periodically "takes me out" of the window, as if I am on another window, and I have to click back into the browser window so I can continue.

I have run a full scan and a quick scan of my computer and it found no threats. I have also restarted obviously. It seems as though there is a background application that keeps refreshing and bringing me back to the desktop, but I have no idea how to pinpoint this through the task manager as there are many .exe applications that I do not recognize.

I would be very grateful if someone could explain how to diagnose the problem. Thanks!

 

[mmaatt747]

This kind of sounds like a problem I had. But it only happened to me when gaming (not surfing the internet). Whenever I boot up my machine, I have 2 instances of "netsession.exe" running in the back ground. As long as I end both of these processes using Task Manager before I start gaming then I don't have that problem.

Don't know if it will work for you but it might be something to look into.

 

[chezzer240]

This kind of sounds like a problem I had. But it only happened to me when gaming (not surfing the internet). Whenever I boot up my machine, I have 2 instances of "netsession.exe" running in the back ground. As long as I end both of these processes using Task Manager before I start gaming then I don't have that problem.

Don't know if it will work for you but it might be something to look into.

Thanks a lot for the response! Unfortunately I can't see any processes of that name. I will keep looking to see if I can find what might be causing the problem.

 

[xeonight]

I would start with things that are automatic, E.G. i've seen the popup for plugging in a USB flash drive interrupt full-screen stuff, also popups like email checkers in web browsers have interrupted me before too, but this kind of problem is a bit hard to track down, but if it happens repeatedly to you, that should make it a bit easier.

maybe something to try would be get 'ProcExp' from microsoft, and have it up and running as the focused window (watch the color of the titlebar at the top) and as soon as it switches you (it sounds like you can sit and wait for it) then press alt-F4 without clicking the mouse, and watch which process gets closed, in essence, you're killing whatever program is 'taking' the focus (assuming it's not just changing the focus to the desktop, then this is a little harder).

EDIT: another thought would be to check your Task Scheduler to see if there's any entrys for something that fires every few minutes, that would match with your problem

 

[mmaatt747]

Xeon has some good thoughts. Also, you might want to check Windows Event Viewer after each incident and see if it any events show up at the exact same time as when your window minimized.

 

[MidnightDistort]

It also wouldn't hurt to do a virus scan with your AV software and do a Malwarebytes check as well. This guide will help you out if your not familiar on how to check for viruses.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/8263-63-simple-free-guide-removing-malware

It doesn't mean you got a virus though, it could just be something you installed recently, you could also get CCleaner and check out what items are running at startup.