Windows not coming to the front

Anonymous
2015-02-24T16:02:00+00:00

Recently, when I click on a running program in the taskbar, it is anyones guess if it will come to the front.  Google chrome behind Blizzard desktop launcher, neither clicking on the program in the taskbar nor clicking on the parts of the window visible to the side of the launcher bring it to the top.  Malwarebytes window open, world of warcraft on top of it, click it and it won't come to the front for several clicks.  Once it is on front, now clicking on wow wont bring wow to the front.  GOM media player, 3 windows open, click torrent client, comes to the front on top of 2 out of three of the gom windows.  Windows explorer windows open browsing files, bring chrome to the front on top of it, clicking explorer in the taskbar will not bring it to the front.  It seems to be totally random.  I ran malwarebytes and got rid of some adware, and for a minute it seemed like that had fixed it.  An hour later and it is happening again.  Spotify on top of file folder window, clicking explorer does not come to the front.

Any help?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2016-01-02T09:36:13+00:00

I had same problem under windows 10 x64

Tried scf/scannow but no results, the below link solved the problem(although SCF showed corrupted files) 

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_7-windows\_programs/newly-opened-programemail-does-not-open-in-front/fe587f90-5815-4d4a-81b5-55325019af1d

1.      Go to start and type regedit.exe.

2.      Navigate to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.

3.      Double click the 'ForegroundLockTimeout' key. Change the notation to decimal.

4.      The default value should be 200000 millisecond in decimal, or 200 seconds. Click OK.

5.      Restart your computer and check if the issue persists.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-08-21T02:18:37+00:00

    Me too - with Windows 10, 64 bit. Problem started in August (2016). Only solution so far has been to minimize windows until the one that I want will appear at the front. Microsoft seems to have caused this problem with one or another update. (I have installed nothing new.) I keep looking for a Microsoft solution. (The regedit change noted in a previous response does not seem to be a permanent fix.)

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-16T23:50:31+00:00

    I have the same problem on Windows 10.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-08T17:10:40+00:00

    I like how microsoft gets to screw up your computer then expect you to pay for them to fix it! What a joke.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-05-30T18:54:11+00:00

    This really helped me, I had tried to fix this numerous times and ways to no success, but this fixed my problem for now.

    Thanks a lot!

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