Windows 10: Games minimizing to desktop

This is just a heads up in case you're suddenly finding your games minimizing to the desktop within the last couple of days. Up till yesterday, all my games ran great. Today, much frustration as games would open for 2 seconds then minimize, no matter which game I opened. The only thing different from yesterday to today was the cumulative update for Windows 10 version 1803 for x64 based systems (KB4340918) that installed yesterday. So, I uninstalled that update and everything is working back to normal. Prior to that, I had checked to make sure all my drivers were up to date and I confess, there were a couple that needed to be done, so I can't say absolutely for sure that the update was the cause, but if you're having the same trouble maybe this will be helpful.


Happy Gaming!


Vikki

:)

 

Why are my games minimizing when there is no mouse activity or minimizing randomly?

Hi Walter,

To address your concern, we suggest that you refer to StevenN.'s response on this related

thread for some troubleshooting steps.

Regards.

 

Windows 10 Minimizing Games to Desktop


Hi! I've had my custom built desktop for a few months now. It has Windows 10 Pro installed as the OS. The issue I am having is that when I try to play games in fullscreen mode, they will periodically be minimized to the desktop. It appears they are still running in the background, as I can hear the game sound even when it is minimized. I can re-open the games as I could if I had just tabbed out, but within a few minutes they will minimize again. I have tried disabling background programs such as Skype, Curse Voice, Origin, Steam, Windows Firewall, and Bitdefender, but the games will still minimize. If I have the games in windowed fullscreen mode, they will not actually minimize, but from time to time the edges of the window will be visible (as if I had tabbed out) until I click into the game again.

Obviously playing games in windowed fullscreen is a sort of band-aid for the issue, but not all games have the option of windowed fullscreen, so I can't just wait for a fix to come up anymore. I have looked for solutions to this problem, but haven't found anything that helps.

On a possibly related side note, when using Open Broadcaster Software to record gameplay, OBS will record only a black screen in "game capture" mode. I have to use "monitor capture" mode to force it to always record everything that happens on my screen. This might be related to the games minimizing, or might be something completely different. I only added this in case it was relevant to the games minimizing.

 

Some issues with minimizing and maximizing games


Im trying out the focus assist options right now, will get back with the results.

Alright, so turning focus assist off for games seems to have reduced the time it takes to minimize and maximize the games, but i still get the annoying message box in the top left corner of the screen, and id still like my games to minimize and maximize instantly, but its a step in the right direction.