Random Minimizing Windows
recently i formatted my pc and installed a fresh copy of windows xp pro service pack 2
i then had a problem with windows minimizing at random.
for example i am watching a full screen movie and it shrinks back down to a small window at random intervals and then i set it back to full screen and it occurs again.
also in games i am playing it will minimize the game back to the taskbar from full screen. i then re-enlarge it only to have it happen again.
when i am browsing windows or have folders open for example it will deselect the folder and then reselect it (folder menu bar goes gray and then back to blue)
i reformatted again and am now having the same problems again.
since then i have installed norton, zonealarm, the drivers, divx, and tuneup
what is going on?
i have a dell 8300
ati radeon x1300
windows xp pro sp2
(any other details needed please ask)
thanks
i then had a problem with windows minimizing at random.
for example i am watching a full screen movie and it shrinks back down to a small window at random intervals and then i set it back to full screen and it occurs again.
also in games i am playing it will minimize the game back to the taskbar from full screen. i then re-enlarge it only to have it happen again.
when i am browsing windows or have folders open for example it will deselect the folder and then reselect it (folder menu bar goes gray and then back to blue)
i reformatted again and am now having the same problems again.
since then i have installed norton, zonealarm, the drivers, divx, and tuneup
what is going on?
i have a dell 8300
ati radeon x1300
windows xp pro sp2
(any other details needed please ask)
thanks
0
Comments
thanks
here is a hijack this log
when you mentioned stream i thought of my copy of messiah
but like i said i did a reinstall and havent even put that in yet.
PS. in the log up there there is one entry missing since i deleted the flashget copy that i did have. but it didnt stop after i removed it
it was flashget 1.7.2 i believe
PSS. also the first time around i did not have norton installed.
The reason i did the 1st reformat was because my radeon 9800 died on my (vertical lines) so i purchased a x1300 xge from visiontek and decided that i might as well work with a clean slate
i havent yet installed the drivers for my dvd burner (in either formating).
however before my 2nd format i didnt do a backup of a few files to dvd and it worked fine.
in that case i used roxio but since the 2nd reformat i havent installed that either
ran adaware
ran spybot
ran cwshredder
ran tweakui
looked at the focus lock in the registry
and nothing has worked
i can't figure out what is wrong here and why it keeps happening.
the system works fine after the reformat but then the next day this happens and i cant figure it out.
the only programs i installed this second time around were norton 2007, zonealarm (dled free version from the site), flashget 1.72, ati catalyst control center (from drivers installation), all the windows updates and upgraded to explorer 7.
I see both Symantec and ZoneAlarm installed. Both have background activity so it would be legitimate to check both. Symantec has automatic checks and ZoneAlarm is constantly asking permission or alerting users. While it's reasonable to not want to turn either one off, I would disconnect the computer from the Internet and watch a movie with ONE turned off. Repeat with the OTHER off and play a game. Take note if the minimizing happens.
i will look into zonealarm though.
if it is the case are there any other decent free firewalls that i can use?
one thing though.
whenever my games or my movies shrink there is nothing that pops up asking me for permission or to alert me to do anything.
A window that could cause a movie to exit full screen or games to minimize may not be a visible window. Or it could hide before you see it. Applications often use bad practices like default buttons on popups or popups that hide if they lose focus. In the first case the window would be gone if you touch the keyboard and second would happen when the movie retakes focus after exiting full screen or the game tries to recover.
These are just guesses mind you. Since it's a clean computer and Windows does not include this "feature" it has to be something installed on top of Windows. If it's possible to completely disable ZoneAlarm to try that theory then go for it. It may be easier to uninstall it for the length of a movie while off the Internet.
QUICK EDIT
If you Google "ZoneAlarm steal focus" you can see people complaining about "Auto Blocked" and other warnings from Zone Alarm.
Not sure which version you have but look for a "Gamer's Mode" in the settings
didnt understand what it meant until now
i have a hub rather than a router since so i do need an actual software firewall. is windows firewall actually good these days? when i had last heard about it a couple of years i read nothing but complaints.
the problem seems to have stopped though. i tried out another spyware program and it found problems that adaware, spybot, cwshredder didnt and removed them (a couple of trojans and a coolwwwsearch thing and a few toolbar items. no idea how they got there so fast =\)
since then i have rebooted several times and have not experienced the problems.
of course i also deleted flashget (the new version) because the spyware program said several of the things it had installed could be causing problems. after deletion i ran the program and it found things that it had left behind and i removed them.
i'll look into a zonealarm replacement tommorow then and thanks for the help
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
:type: Pterocarpous [a.k.a. Fruitwing]
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
:type: Pterocarpous [a.k.a. Fruitwing]