[warlord]

it doesent matter what game im playing (left 4 dead, battlefield) at random times during play the game will minimize itself and i havent been able to track what was causing it.

i tried running virus scans adaware scans and spybot scans but it still seems to happen

ive been running the task manager looking for causes and the only thing that is getting me is there is this rundll.exe process that comes and goes very quickly
and it happens about every 5 to 10 min which is about when the games minimize
so what ever is causing that rundll is probably causing that problem

i just cant figure out what it is tho

[kiwiguy]

Temperature of GPU?

[warlord]

dont know the temp but the comp has been recently compleatly air blown of all its dust. and i dont have the card overclocked so i cant imagine its overheating

let alone why it would minimize anyhting

[warlord]

im noticing some thing in my control panel called "windows cardspace"
it is supposedly a windows service of sorts but i know i diddnt have it when i installed windows.

im wondering if that could be the culprit, how the hell did it got on my computer to begin with anyway?

edit:
okay i know where cardspace came from but it doesent rule it out as a possible reason for me having this problem of minimizing

[JustinPS]

When the game(s) minimize, can you immediately click on them in the taskbar and make them full-screen again?

If you can, then it's probably a software issue. Like you've assumed, some software is probably interrupting your games in such a way that Windows gives it priority and minimizes your full-screen. Another possible explanation is that your video card is not set up properly, or somehow got corrupted. The first thing I'd do is download the latest driver for your card, and see if that helps.

If you can't immediately re-open it, then it might be a video card issue, probably overheating as kiwiguy suggested. Just because you have decent airflow through your tower doesn't mean the card isn't getting too hot from running an intense 3D environment. If the card has a fan (which I'm betting it does if you're able to play Left For Dead on it), make sure that it's working, and make sure the heatsink is still firmly on top of the video card CPU and isn't starting to detach itself.

[warlord]

yes i am able to immediatly click back into game, and i usually find myself dead at that point tho.

and to add more to this, i was testing it out more and this problem occurs with any open window,
only games minimize but if im on the web or in the file explorer it will all of a sudden change into an inactive window and i have to click it again to continue surfing.

is there such a thing out there that will let me record what processes occur, so i can leave it run for like and hour and see whats been happening??????

[Lance1]

Originally Posted by warlord

Is there such a thing out there that will let me record what processes occur, so i can leave it run for like and hour and see whats been happening??????

Yes! Download this little app ---> Process Monitor v2.8 Well it wont record, but it will give you detailed info.

[HaraldPA]

Hey Warlord.

I've got the exact same problem.
And my specs in way behind your comuter.
The bug appeared last weekend or last week for me.

I don't think this is a bug related to any 3 party drivers,
but some windows problem.

btw, I run win-XP.

Both with games, SimCity 4 and EVE-online, and with "window-based", browsers and wideo players. Probably with other programs too.

Hope U'll get an solution for this and post it here.

best regards
Harald

[Mephisto30]

Hey there Warlord, i too got the same problem. This needs to get sorted

[Mephisto30]

Ok its most likely is AVG, just googled this thing and there is a long list of complaints HERE, seems to be the latest upgrade. They will fix this on a later patch, the temperary solution is THIS

[HaraldPA]

Good morning.

I can confirm that when I rerolled back to avg 8.5 the problem dissapeared.
My system did not minimize trough all night, while I was asleep.

best regards
harald.

[Flamestalker]

I have to agree with Mephisto.
for me the problem started on the same day i upgraded to AVG 9.0
I hope they patch this soon, any word from AVG yet?

[warlord]

yes that happened to be it for me as well i removed avg and played a game for a couple of hours and no minimize at all.
i then reinstalled avg and i still doesent happen.
it apparently doesent update correctly but a clean install of it has no problems.

thx all for help
now i just gotta get l4d to stop crashing on its own