M11xR2 keeps minimizing games

I have the 260.89 driver and latest intel driver(Dont know the exact number), at first I could play games like Starcraft1 and CombatArms, game by nexon, but now every time I try to play these games now, they keep on minimizing and wont come back to full screen. The game is running but it will not stay open, it just minimizes the game. Anyone have an idea why this happens or a fix for it? I like these drivers, good performance and I don't want to downgrade

 

Combat Arms! That's a great Counter Strike-esque game I used to play for a bit!

Anyways, to your problem. Here's a few possibilities that I have:
- Windows system tray notices, such as system processes or lower battery life...just all of those annoying balloon messages. If you see these balloons coming up frequently you might be able to find the source of it and disable their activity and stop the minimizing.
- Open up services.msc for Windows 7 and disable and stop tasks that seem dedicated, are not familiar to your common usage, or may cause Windows to lose focus.
- Along with the above point, virus scanners are annoying and can minimize or cause other tasks to lose focus when it has something to tell you. Disabling your anti-virus and firewall may help while playing trusted games.
- Before disabling it, perhaps use your virus scanner to search for any malicious software on your computer that could be performing secret background tasks affecting your main processes. Just run a quick scan with a good AV scanner and you might find something!
- This is less likely, but a strain on hardware like your CPU and GPU could cause the active process to end or lose focus. Although when a program puts this much pressure on your computer (software-wise or overclocking) it will just freeze, crash, or BSOD.

Even though I don't own an Alienware yet, this most definitely sounds like an OS or system related problem, not with your hardware or drivers. There is something in your computer that is calling attention to it on a regular basis and the sensible thing is to find it and disable it, especially if it happens to be adware or even a virus. Any programs you know of that might fit this description would likely be your problem, so if you're using any programs that obtain a higher priority over your games, there you go.

Good luck and have fun with SC and CA! Sorry if this turns out to be an AW-related problem

 

Thanks for the reply and info, it only started happening when I updated drivers, but i will try out your suggestions

Edit: I have tried them but it still doesn't work, I can get Sc2 and counter strike source working but Combat Arms, SC1, Portal or any of my other older games still keep on minimizing.

 

Hmmm. My method does work but its not a permanent fix... While the game is opening, click with your mouse 4 or 5 times while the screen is still black. My warcraft 3 does this, and the clicking works.

Another more permanent fix might be to restart into safemode, uninstall the nvidia drivers and then run driver sweeper. Its a program made by guru 3d that searches for and removes video driver files that were not removed during the uninstall. This sometimes causes driver issues. Then just reboot and reinstall the drivers. Once I have time, I will do that and give feedback.

 

Don't play Combat Arms.

My R1 does this a lot of I adjust the volume with FN + F8/F9. I've found a working solution (as stated somewhat in the post above) to click the icon and then as the screen flashes, just rapidly click.

 

I dont play that much, only like once every few weeks just to relieve some stress. Thanks for that it works sometimes now