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Sometimes, when I select a click a program on the Windows 7 taskbar it won't appear (it doesn't gain focus and remains behind other open windows), and the icon will flash and turn orange. This happens reasonably frequently, and I've had it happen on two separate Windows installs on different machines. It just happened now and the only programs I have with active windows are Chrome, WMP and Explorer (2). It happened when I clicked Explorer.

Once this has happened to one window, it affects all windows, and the only way I can switch between programs is by finding the window manually or using Windows+Tab. The only way I've come across to get the computer to snap out of this annoying behaviour is to restart the machine. Is there a way of stopping it?

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  • Could you try to close some programs from the tray? They may be interfering with the normal behaviour of the taskbar. I've also read that having certain usb devices connected during startup may cause the problem.
    – Geeklab
    Commented Mar 25, 2011 at 20:02
  • Which USB devices? I'd be interested to see your source for that information.
    – fredley
    Commented Mar 25, 2011 at 22:02
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    I think this is a bug in Explorer... it's happened to me too, randomly.
    – user541686
    Commented Feb 4, 2012 at 22:35
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    This appears to be focus stealing prevention not working correctly in Windows 7. This isn't exclusive to Explorer but is likely to be a problem with the Desktop Window Manager.
    – bwDraco
    Commented Feb 5, 2012 at 3:52
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    I had this problem, and it turned out that a systray menu was opened but not closed, and closing it fixed the problem. For me, it was "Apache Monitor" -- I had accidentally opened the context menu and then somehow left it open, and this caused the flashing buttons problem. Once I discovered it was open, I was able to close it and the problem went away.
    – ken
    Commented Nov 27, 2012 at 21:34

2 Answers 2

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Ah, that video makes it more clear and even your mouse cursor icon seems to have issues, I would suggest:

  • Try updating video drivers.

  • Try disabling/enabling the Desktop Window Manager service.

  • Try disabling/enabling Aero.

  • Use ShellExView and try to disable non-Microsoft shell extensions, one might be bad behaving.

  • Try creating a new user account and migrating your stuff there.

As a last resort, I think you might need to reinstall...

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    The mouse cursor icon is just due to the recording software I'm using, normally it's fine. I have the latest drivers, and restarting explorer/dwm doesn't make the problem go away, only a restart fixes it.
    – fredley
    Commented Mar 26, 2011 at 11:26
  • And the other suggestions?
    – Tamara Wijsman
    Commented Mar 26, 2011 at 12:14
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    It hasn't happened for a while, and I don't know what causes it so can't reproduce the error. When it happens again I'll let you know.
    – fredley
    Commented Mar 26, 2011 at 12:18
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An anonymous (unregistered) user calling himself “Jonathan” tried to post the following:

The problem might be due to extended desktop you have. I tried to disable the other defined desktops and screens, but it didn’t help. Only after disabling the other screen through my video-card menu was the problem was solved.

(but he couldn’t, because the question is protected).

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