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General discussion

active window deactivates, any ideas? XP SP2

Jul 15, 2007 9:46AM PDT

On my dell inspirion 6000 running xp service pack 2, the active window sometimes deactivates, ie: the bar at the top turns a lighter color and clicking the window is required to continue working in it. if I bring up the taskbar after this has occured, it shows the program to still be active, but again, it has to be clicked in the window to continue working on it. This happens most often with Firefox, but I've also oberserved it with VLC media player and with AIM. It can be quite irritating to be working on something and have to keep clicking the window as it deactivates in order to continue. Has anyone else run across this problem, or have any idea what's causing it? Trend micro and Adaware have turned up nothing besides some cookies.

Discussion is locked

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reply to: active window deactivates
Jul 15, 2007 9:56AM PDT

Do you have or know of any other programs that are actively running at the time this occurs, aside from Startup programs such as anti-virus?

When you open the Task manager, does the Applications tab indicate any other programs running that may be interfering/conflicting with the program or browser window that is experiencing the problem?

Charlie

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other programs
Jul 15, 2007 9:59AM PDT

Aside from startup programs, I'm usually running Firefox, AIM and sometimes VLC, and I've observed the problem with all of those programs. It's happened several times in the past couple of hours, and I'm only running firefox and AIM right now. the applications tab of the task manager only shows those 2 programs running

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Well...
Jul 15, 2007 10:26AM PDT

Since it's a laptop, the first thing I would think of is that you're unknowingly tapping the track pad and that's causing the window focus to change. It can be particularly easy to do while typing.

The other thought would be that it's some kind of malware, probably installed along with AIM. Or it could be one of the rotating ad banners in the official AIM client. Among many other reasons, it's why I long ago switched to using either Trillian or Gaim (now Pidgin), depending on if I'm using Windows or Linux respectively. You can run Gaim/Pidgin on Windows, but it doesn't compare to Trillian IMO.

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malware
Jul 15, 2007 10:31AM PDT

I suppose it could be the rotating banners in AIM, the only problem being that I need to use AIM to be able to use any video chat features, which GAIM doesn't support. I don't think it's accidentally tapping the trackpad, because the application is still selected in the taskbar, even though a click is required to make the window active again.

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So try Trillian
Jul 15, 2007 11:29AM PDT

It's free, and it supports video chat... Though it can be kind of hit or miss at times. Usually depending on how old the other party's client is in my experience.

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active windows deactivates on my dell 6000 too!?
Feb 24, 2009 11:52AM PST

I saw the posts on this prob but no solution for me. I have a dell inspiron 6000 w/ xp sp2. Not only does the window deactivate but I hear clicking all the time....like you would hear when you click on a link. I'm a computer rookie, please help!! It just happened while typing this post! Also, heard about 10 or 15 clicks as well. thx. gordi11

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Just as a test.
Feb 24, 2009 8:29PM PST

Disable the mouse pad on the laptop and use an external mouse. The success rate for that is too high to not call it 100%

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active windows and mouse
Feb 25, 2009 7:02AM PST

Thank you so much for the help. Here is what happened....I was reading the mag Computer Solutions at the Dr. office today and someone had a simular prob on a HP. The advice was to disable the touch portion of the pad and use a usb mouse. Well, after I clicked disable I realized I didn't have my usb mouse handy and I could not move around on the screen. I used the keyboard to enable the touch pad again and then went about my business, leaving a window open just as a test. I came back to hook up my usb mouse and the prob has stopped!!! I'm wondering if I didn't maybe 'reset' something? If something changes I'll let you know but so far so good. Thanx again.

gordi

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Active window issue again!
Feb 25, 2009 8:12AM PST

Me again, the prob is still here. I disabled the touch pad and plugged in my usb mouse and I still have the prob!!! I still hear the clicking too. I opened windows task manager and there are 44 processes ongoing. Could this be a prob? thanx. gordi

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is any one found the solution for this?
Mar 23, 2009 4:09PM PDT

i am using Dell latitude D630 , i am facing the same issue what is discussing for, ie: the bar at the top turns a lighter color and clicking the window is required to continue working in it. This happens most often with Outlook and other office application even with notepad, has anyone else run across this problem, or have any idea what's causing it?
Thanks in advance

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Many found.
Mar 23, 2009 9:12PM PDT

Causes are what I find outnumber the solutions. In this discussion we note the most common. But as there are some millions of PCs with each one appearing to differ in some way you become the best source of ideas why your machine does what it does.

This is why my answer is YES! We found a solution. Maybe it's not yours but it did solve all that I encountered.
Bob

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same problem
Nov 30, 2013 12:57AM PST

I have the same problem on 2 computers running windows vista and windows 7

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This thread is more than 2329 days old.
Nov 30, 2013 1:07AM PST

This thread is more than 2329 days old and the issue is still with many. It appears Microsoft will solve this by dropping support for XP. As I no longer have access to XP here, please use the web for more ideas.
Bob