Windows 8.1 and games minimizing


Recommended Posts

Hi,

 

I've noticed this since I put Windows 8 and 8.1 on my Desktop PC, but it is also happening on my Laptop, which is Windows 8.1. On my Desktop, I have a NVidia 660 ti card and on my laptop, a NVidia 650m. I'll be in any game, whether it is Diablo 3, Watch Dogs, or Age of Wonders 3 and after 10-20 minutes of playing, the game minimizes to the taskbar. I then just need to click on the minimized icon to get it back. Anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it? I've dealt with this for awhile and I figured I'd ask the experts here. :)

 

Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, I have the same problem on my desktop PC, my wife does as well on her MSI laptop.  It's only happened since windows 8.1 was installed, it minimizes full screen games, when on windowed mode or using internet the focus is taken from the current screen by some other background process.  From searching for a solution to this problem I've encountered people from many different game forums all saying the same thing.  It's not a game problem, it's something to do with the windows 8.1 update and I can't figure out what is causing it at all.  All drivers are up to date, I've checked the error logs on both computers and found nothing at all.  Setting the priority to high on whatever game I want to play worked yesterday, but that no longer seems to cure it.  Anyone with any clue as to what it is about windows 8.1 that's doing this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had that happen to me with Diablo 3 but I think that's because I was using Skype in the background. Most likely it's a background app stealing focus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It happens to me with D3 when battle.net jumps up to tell me there's an update, but other than that I don't have an issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Something is stealing focus. Happens for me if I leave Citrix Receiver running or if when Geforce Experience decides to check for updates in my system tray.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, I have the same problem on my desktop PC, my wife does as well on her MSI laptop.  It's only happened since windows 8.1 was installed, it minimizes full screen games, when on windowed mode or using internet the focus is taken from the current screen by some other background process.  From searching for a solution to this problem I've encountered people from many different game forums all saying the same thing.  It's not a game problem, it's something to do with the windows 8.1 update and I can't figure out what is causing it at all.  All drivers are up to date, I've checked the error logs on both computers and found nothing at all.  Setting the priority to high on whatever game I want to play worked yesterday, but that no longer seems to cure it.  Anyone with any clue as to what it is about windows 8.1 that's doing this?

 

I have a MSI laptop too and my desktop mobo is MSI. Wonder if that could be a coincidence but prob. not.

 

Hmmm. stealing focus. That could very well be with B.net or GEForce Experience, but I don't see any messages or even popups and it does happen every 20-30 minutes or so. I do have Citrix Receiver on both. I can try turning that off.

 

I'll have to shut down background apps one at a time after this happens and then compare the apps installed on my laptop to my desktop. I'll report back on the similarities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Found this on another site....could be my problem:

 

"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."

 

And the reply:

 

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. 

 

I do have OneNote on both and I have noticed it autoloading in the tray....

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/115032-13-random-game-minimize

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my windows 8.1 tower has an MSI mobo and it too has this problem

 

well i don't play games on it but every now and then when i'm watching videos on it they'll randomly come out of full screen

 

i wonder if this is related to why my computer won't go to sleep on its own either no matter what i've tried

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've disabled or uninstalled as many apps on the pc as I can, there are very few programs running.  This one does not have an MSI motherboard so it can't be that.  I set a game to realtime priority so that it's higher than any other process that's running and it still gets something stealing focus.  Running out of ideas :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Battle.net app does not seem to behave very well when there are updates. I've routinely had it bounce to the desktop to confirm an update when there's one available.

 

I haven't seen this happen with other games, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.