Windows opening under other windows.

[David Kelsey]

I have had a few occasions recently when a window which should open on top
has opened underneath existing windows, and is thus not visible. One
occasion was a printer dialogue box which required a response, so the
printer would not print. Another was in Outlook Express, when I clicked on
a link (to ZD Net) which apparently did not open, but which I subsequently
found underneath the OE window.

I can't think of any control for this, and in any case, it would not be
logical for windows to open where they can't be seen, so I don't think it
can be a 'feature'.

I don't think it has any bearing on this problem, but I have also had two
e-mails dated around Christmas 2004 suddenly appear in my inbox. One then
disappeared, then appeared again next day. I've done every kind of scan,
and my AV and firewalls are all up to date, as are my Zone Alarm
definitions. I have done an Ad-Aware scan, which produced just the usual 48
objects. (Why does this program always find 48 objects?). Spybot never
finds anything if I run it after Ad-Aware, and the online scan I did
yesterday said that the computer is fully stealthed except for ping.

Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

 

[Lindsay]

As illogical as it sounds, it could be a feature. If you don't have it, get
TweakUI from MS. One thing Windows can do, is prevent programs from stealing
focus. The result is programs opening underneath other windows. There is an
option in TweakUI to disable this.

 

[T. Waters]

I have had a few occasions recently when a window which should open
on top has opened underneath existing windows, and is thus not
visible. One occasion was a printer dialogue box which required a
response, so the printer would not print. Another was in Outlook
Express, when I clicked on a link (to ZD Net) which apparently did
not open, but which I subsequently found underneath the OE window.

I can't think of any control for this, and in any case, it would not
be logical for windows to open where they can't be seen, so I don't
think it can be a 'feature'.

I don't think it has any bearing on this problem, but I have also had
two e-mails dated around Christmas 2004 suddenly appear in my inbox.
One then disappeared, then appeared again next day. I've done every
kind of scan, and my AV and firewalls are all up to date, as are my
Zone Alarm definitions. I have done an Ad-Aware scan, which produced
just the usual 48 objects. (Why does this program always find 48
objects?). Spybot never finds anything if I run it after Ad-Aware,
and the online scan I did yesterday said that the computer is fully
stealthed except for ping.

Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

As a workaround, can you see the window in your Alt-Tab menu, even if it
does not show in the Task Bar?
Is there any consistency in which windows hide themselves?

 

[David Kelsey]

Although I had not altered any settings in Tweakui, the 'Prevent windows
from stealing focus' was checked. I have now altered the flashing to
continuous until clicked, to draw attention to the underlying window if any.

Thanks both for the suggestions. I'll pay attention to what happens now.

David

 

[Kelly]

How interesting, David. This only means that something else has put the
setting into play via the registry. I would take a look at what you have
installed on the third party side.

Belarc: For a detailed list of all installed software:
http://www.belarc.com/Download.html

In the Software Versions section you'll see all of your installed software.
At the end of each entry is a clickable asterisk that will take you to the
folder the software is installed in.

Another is:

EVEREST Home Edition is a system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for
home PC users, the. It offers the world's most accurate system information
and diagnostics capabilities, including online features, memory benchmarks,
hardware monitoring, and low-level hardware information.
http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?pid=1&lang=en

Or...

Enterprise System Information - Line 317
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Added focus info:

Prevent Programs from Stealing Focus - Undo (Line 66)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

When a window that does not have focus is updated by its program, the
default setting prevents it from becoming the foremost (top) window,
instead, it flashes in the taskbar.

HeldUp is the easiest way to stop windows from disappearing behind other
programs. http://www.johnmacintyre.ca/HeldUp.asp

Programs May Start, Quit, Lose, and Gain Focus Randomly
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;313176&Product=winxp


Good luck and keep us all posted as this has become a very common post as of
late.

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[David Kelsey]

I ran Belarc, and it first came up with the message:

Belarc Advisor temporary file problem:\system\tpl\siteDefaultSummary.html

then:

\system\tmp\(david).html

Both contain an invalid path. I'll carry on with the lists now.

David

 

[David Kelsey]

I reinstalled Belarc, and it isn't giving me the errors now.
David

 

[Darrell S]

That has happened to me on occasion. But when it happens my desired window
is available by clicking on its icon on the task bar. Then it pops to the
top. Have you tried that?

 

[Lindsay]

I think it's on by default. Everytime I install XP, I then install TweakUI
and turn it off.

 

[David Kelsey]

Thanks Lindsay. I was beginning to come to that conclusion myself.
However, the windows seem to be behaving themselves at the moment.
Theoretically, allowing new windows to take the focus would seem to be a
better bet, since it would presumably avoid the windows being concealed
under existing ones, but the setting is not working intuitively at the
moment, and new windows are taking focus, on the whole.

David

 

[David Kelsey]

Hi Kelly - there doesn't seem to be anything untoward in Belarc, except that
it reminded me my USB 2 ports were running under USB 1. As Lindsay says
below, it could be that the formatting and reinstallation I did caused the
setting to revert to a default. Time will tell.

David

 

[David Kelsey]

Hi Darrell - I would if I noticed it, but as I don't expect anything to get
itself hidden, it has not come to my attention. I have now set the taskbar
to flash until clicked, but I have left the setting as the default. We'll
see what happens.

David

 

[Kelly]

Glad to hear things are working out better for you, David. )

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

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