Random game minimize

[Fireprufe15]

I have a problem where, at random intervals during playing a game, it minimizes to the desktop. I can restore it again, but it is extremely irritating. I don't have AVG, never had, my graphics drivers are up to date and my card is supported by all the games. I've scanned, but my PC is virus clean. This happened a few months ago as well, but it went away. Now it's happening again. It's not isolated to Steam games, but it seems to happen more frequently in them. I've killed Steam while playing non-Steam games, but no difference. I have disabled almost all of the automatic start up programs, leaving only those that keep my PC running. I don't know if it's just me pressing a button or if it's really happening, but it seems like the task manager process list moves when it minimizes, so maybe a program that runs and then closes?

My system:
- Geforce GTS 250
- 4 GB RAM
- Core i5 650 3.2 Ghz
- Windows 7 Professional 32-bit

I don't know why it went away, and came back. Please help!!!!

 

[crewton]

Try playing your game in windowed mode so that you can see if something is causing your games to minimize.

 

[Fireprufe15]

I tried it, but I can't see anything. It doesn't seem to do it in windowed, but I don't like playing in windowed mode.

 

[Fireprufe15]

I tried it, but I can't see anything. It doesn't seem to do it in windowed, but I don't like playing in windowed mode.

 

[crewton]

Are you hitting the windows key on the keyboard? I had the problem with a laptop where my palm kept hitting the touchpad...but you won't have that problem. You also aren't secretly alt tabbing? Other than that I'd just play windowed until you see the issue :9

 

[Fireprufe15]

Nope, no hitting the windows key and no alt-tabbing. It even sometimes happens when I leave the game on and go do something else, when I'm back it's minimized. I have no idea whats wrong, the internet has no answers.

 

[crewton]

Hmm I wonder if your screen saver is coming on and knocking you out? Or does it happen when you are active as well?

 

[Fireprufe15]

It happens whenever I play a game in fullscreen, active or not. I don't have a screensaver, and my wallpaper is stationary, not a slideshow or something. Could Aero be causing this?

 

[crewton]

when you go into full screen, windows disables aero or at least it's supposed to.

 

[Fireprufe15]

Okay, but when it minimizes, Aero is still active. Is there a setting to make Aero go off for fullscreen?

 

[crewton]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/692-63-aero-auto-disables-full-screen

Are you using more than one monitor?

 

[Fireprufe15]

Nope, only one. I don't think my graphics card is capable of two

 

[Fireprufe15]

I can confirm that my Aero is still active when I run the game fullscreen, or at least it is when it gets minimized. How can I fix this without permanently shutting off Aero?

 

[Fireprufe15]

Sorry for the bump, just want to say that turning off Aero doesn't make a difference. Someone help me!

 

[Fireprufe15]

Help me! This problem remains unsolved and is really irritating. Please.

 

[kveldulf]

When did this problem start occurring?

Are you all updated with drivers and windows updates?

Aero can be shut off btw by simply going to personalize desktop and navigating to theme selection. Click on basic.

I'm running windows server atm, so I had to install the aero goodness (doesnt come installed)... one of the steps requires a service to be turned on... I believe the service was called Themes service. try turning it off.

It won't be "permanent"

 

[Fireprufe15]

Ive tried without Aero, but it still happens. It started happening frequently when I installed Skyrim, but has happened previously to Skyrim as well and went away after some time. I'm fully updated and I turn my Norton antivirus off during gaming. What can be doing this? I'm starting to think that the only fix is a reformat, but I really don't want to do that. Is there some program I can run that logs what programs are coming active? That way I can run it while playing the game so it can tell me what program executes when the game minimizes. Would a HighJackThis log help me find the problem? What other suggestions do you have? Could it be a graphics card, CPU or RAM fault?

 

[tekmage]

Try this. I found this a few months back and it works very nicely. http://www.iobit.com/download.html

The app you want is called game booster 3. It should at least help you identify what might be causing you to minimize. If not, it'll help you run your games at their best.
I hope it works.

 

[Fireprufe15]

Thank you, I found out using Game Booster that my problem is something of OneNote that autoruns. Makes sense now since I uninstalled Microsoft Office around the time it stopped. Made that connection now. Thank you techmage.

 

[Fireprufe15]

Best answer selected by Fireprufe15.