Hi Mark,
Here are some solutions (and workarounds) to deal with the problem where games minimize to the Task Bar.
1. Install and/or play the game using an administrator account.
2. Keyboard software has been known to cause this problem. One player
posted that by un-installing their Trust Silverline Direct Access keyboard
software, all their games worked again without minimizing to the Task Bar.
3. Norton's AntiVirus (Internet Security) can cause the problem as well. The
workaround is to disable the program. To do so, right click it's Tray icon.
One person wrote: "I just went to the Norton Anti-virus options, and turned
off the Liveupdate auto update option. It worked like a charm for me."
4. One person wrote: "I finally found that if I open the command line, cd to
the directory, then type the program name, it works!!!"
5. Yet another workaround is to click the screen after you launch the game.
If the problem persists, please try these additional troubleshooting steps.
The most common causes for that problem can be solved with
these few steps. If the problem persists after you've tried these,
please post back and we'll try some more solutions. Good luck!
A. To see if it's a software conflict: Temporarily disable Startup
programs one at a time, starting with Firewall, Antivirus, and ad
blockers using:
http://new.jtsoft2001.com/windows/startup.php
You can lookup what a program does before you disable it here:
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
B. Run a virus scan at:
http://housecall.antivirus.com Afterwards
Download & Run Spybot from:
http://security.kolla.de to find any
Trojans, Adware, or Spyware which could clog up your system.
C. Click My Computer / Rightclick the Drive & Choose Properties
/ Run the "Disk Cleanup..." / Next Click the "Tools" Tab and run
the "Error-Checking" and "Defragmentation" utilities.
D. Go to the Windows Update site for everything under Critical and
Recommended:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com Some games
require a patch:
http://www.avault.com/pcrl/patches_list.asp?letter=a
E. Update DirectX and your Chipset, Sound, &Video Drivers:
For all Video / DirectX / Game and Hardware Issues, I have a
Checklist of Solutions at:
http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits/Video.html
--
Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
Jimmy S.
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Visit my MSN Zone.com and Gaming Help Site:
http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits
MS Games Help and Support Center:
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________
Mark Wrote:
=================
| Greetings,
|
| Having trouble with windows xp, In the last few months a problem is
| persistently getting worse. If I am playing any of my games Age of Empires
| III,
| Morrowind, NeverWinter Nights, anything that's not windows. They minimizes
| to the taskbar with no warning. Internet explorer,Word, Media player
| all stay up but a white bar appears on the taskbar for a second then goes
| away. I have watched the activity of my system with the task manager under
| the processes tab. The two programs under my name ( user name ) that seem to
| be active I uninstalled and it still does it. This happens every few minutes
| and its driving me nuts.
| Has anyone else had this problem? Thanks in advance.
