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
    2017-11-21T22:21:33+00:00

    Tried all the related solutions. Issue still persists.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-11-21T22:47:48+00:00

    I am sure it is an app that causes it. It is very likely that it is Real Player or TeamViewers or something like that. The fix will not be noticable immediately as it is temperamental. Try removing apps from your start ups one at a time, if the problem goes away for few days then it is that app.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-01-04T01:22:05+00:00

    Just adding another voice to the pile.  It's making me insane!  Took me forever to find this thread because it's really hard to describe without a zillion people telling me to find the window hidden off my screen.

    Wanted to add that I'm also running Windows 10 on a Lenovo Yoga.  

    Will try to the regedit and realplayer fixes and report back if one works!

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-01-04T03:37:19+00:00

    It is Real Player.  I uninstalled RP and I haven't have the problem ever since (at least 4 months now).

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