Switching among programs sometimes gets klunky in XP SP2

[Guest mama@mia.mamamia]

Mine is an XP SP2 machine, 1 gig of memory, very stable, no viruses or

spyware, been running fine for two years.

 

About a week ago, I noticed that sometimes, I can't determine when

exactly, I'll get weird behavior when trying to switch between

multiple open programs on the computer.

 

Normally, I might be running Firefox (2.0.0.12) and Thunderbird, plus

maybe one or two other normal programs, like Windows or Excel.

 

Normally, if you want to switch to a different application, you click

on the application in the taskbar, and the window with that

application opens up in front of other applications, and becomes the

active window.

 

However, in the past week, I've been notcing that sometimes (again, I

can't define when), this doesn't work. To bring up a new application,

the following happens:

 

1. Click on desired application in the taskbar.

 

2. The application's "spot" in the taskbar will start flashing orange

rather than the normal blue background.

 

3. Click again, a SECOND time, on the desired application in the

taskbar.

 

4. Really quickly, I'll see it look like the application is minimizing

to the task bar. The application's "spot" in the taskbar will remain

a steady orange.

 

5. Click again, a THIRD time, on the desired application in the

taskbar.

 

6. This time, the application will rise to the top and I can work in

it.

 

So six steps to do what past experience and normal expectations would

tell me should be done in three.

 

Computer is free of viruses and spyware. No new applications have

been installed on it in the past week. I restart it every morning.

It's gone entire busy days of usage without this happening (for

example, yesterday, a Sunday, when I was on it all day). Once it does

this, quitting all applications won't fix the problem, and merely

logging off then logging back on won't either. Only restarting the

comptuer will fix it.

 

This is driving me nuts, and because I lack the precise information

I'd need to troubleshoot further, I can't really research it well.

 

Anyone else ever had this happen, and what's the fix?

[Guest mama@mia.mamamia]

Re: Switching among programs sometimes gets klunky in XP SP2

 

Oh, two other things:

 

1. TweakUI doesn't fix the problem. I downloaded TweakUI and used

General/Focus and no matter how I set it, the problem persists.

 

2. When I said that I'd not made any changes to my computer and it

"just suddenly" started doing this, I overlooked one thing. Windows

update automatically downloaded and installed Microsoft .NET Framework

2.0 Service Pack 1 (KB110806) one week ago on my computer. First

instance of the problem described at the top of this thread occurred

after that.

[Guest sandy58]

Re: Switching among programs sometimes gets klunky in XP SP2

 

On Feb 26, 3:32 am, m...@mia.mamamia wrote:

> Oh, two other things:

>

> 1. TweakUI doesn't fix the problem. I downloaded TweakUI and used

> General/Focus and no matter how I set it, the problem persists.

>

> 2. When I said that I'd not made any changes to my computer and it

> "just suddenly" started doing this, I overlooked one thing. Windows

> update automatically downloaded and installed Microsoft .NET Framework

> 2.0 Service Pack 1 (KB110806) one week ago on my computer. First

> instance of the problem described at the top of this thread occurred

> after that.

 

I have just removed Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1

(KB110806) an hour ago. I installed Sony Vegas Movie Studio which, in

turn, insisted in installing it & two other MS bits. MS Visual C++

2005 Redistribution & MS Win Installer 3.1. I removed the lot,

including Sony Vegas Movie Studio. I was getting similar quirks as you

when moving between drives (I was thinking of a dodgey hard drive) Now

I'll wait to see if all quirks have gone. :-)

[Guest catchme]

Re: Switching among programs sometimes gets klunky in XP SP2

 

mama@mia.mamamia wrote:

> Mine is an XP SP2 machine, 1 gig of memory, very stable, no viruses or

> spyware, been running fine for two years.

>

processor make, speed?

> About a week ago, I noticed that sometimes, I can't determine when

> exactly, I'll get weird behavior when trying to switch between

> multiple open programs on the computer.

>

> Normally, I might be running Firefox (2.0.0.12) and Thunderbird, plus

> maybe one or two other normal programs, like Windows or Excel.

>

> Normally, if you want to switch to a different application, you click

> on the application in the taskbar, and the window with that

> application opens up in front of other applications, and becomes the

> active window.

>

> However, in the past week, I've been notcing that sometimes (again, I

> can't define when), this doesn't work. To bring up a new application,

> the following happens:

>

> 1. Click on desired application in the taskbar.

>

> 2. The application's "spot" in the taskbar will start flashing orange

> rather than the normal blue background.

>

> 3. Click again, a SECOND time, on the desired application in the

> taskbar.

>

> 4. Really quickly, I'll see it look like the application is minimizing

> to the task bar. The application's "spot" in the taskbar will remain

> a steady orange.

>

> 5. Click again, a THIRD time, on the desired application in the

> taskbar.

>

> 6. This time, the application will rise to the top and I can work in

> it.

>

> So six steps to do what past experience and normal expectations would

> tell me should be done in three.

>

> Computer is free of viruses and spyware. No new applications have

> been installed on it in the past week. I restart it every morning.

> It's gone entire busy days of usage without this happening (for

> example, yesterday, a Sunday, when I was on it all day). Once it does

> this, quitting all applications won't fix the problem, and merely

> logging off then logging back on won't either. Only restarting the

> comptuer will fix it.

>

> This is driving me nuts, and because I lack the precise information

> I'd need to troubleshoot further, I can't really research it well.

>

> Anyone else ever had this happen, and what's the fix?

 

 

if its an older processor (over 3 years), running the latest versions of

software, and you are running 3-4 at the same time (are any of them p2p

or torrent?), you will find some performance lag- esp. if you are heavy

on antivrus and anti-spyware, software firewall, etc.....this is normal-

esp. for windows.

multitasking is not windows' forte.

it appears you have enough ram, though.

check your task manager (ctrl-alt delete) and see what processes are

running....if there are any that dont appear recognisable, google them.

[Guest mama@mia.mamamia]

Re: Switching among programs sometimes gets klunky in XP SP2

 

On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:56:46 GMT, catchme <someone@somewhere.net>

wrote:

>mama@mia.mamamia wrote:

>> Mine is an XP SP2 machine, 1 gig of memory, very stable, no viruses or

>> spyware, been running fine for two years.

>>

>processor make, speed?

>

>> About a week ago, I noticed that sometimes, I can't determine when

>> exactly, I'll get weird behavior when trying to switch between

>> multiple open programs on the computer.

>>

>> Normally, I might be running Firefox (2.0.0.12) and Thunderbird, plus

>> maybe one or two other normal programs, like Windows or Excel.

>>

>> Normally, if you want to switch to a different application, you click

>> on the application in the taskbar, and the window with that

>> application opens up in front of other applications, and becomes the

>> active window.

>>

>> However, in the past week, I've been notcing that sometimes (again, I

>> can't define when), this doesn't work. To bring up a new application,

>> the following happens:

>>

>> 1. Click on desired application in the taskbar.

>>

>> 2. The application's "spot" in the taskbar will start flashing orange

>> rather than the normal blue background.

>>

>> 3. Click again, a SECOND time, on the desired application in the

>> taskbar.

>>

>> 4. Really quickly, I'll see it look like the application is minimizing

>> to the task bar. The application's "spot" in the taskbar will remain

>> a steady orange.

>>

>> 5. Click again, a THIRD time, on the desired application in the

>> taskbar.

>>

>> 6. This time, the application will rise to the top and I can work in

>> it.

>>

>> So six steps to do what past experience and normal expectations would

>> tell me should be done in three.

>>

>> Computer is free of viruses and spyware. No new applications have

>> been installed on it in the past week. I restart it every morning.

>> It's gone entire busy days of usage without this happening (for

>> example, yesterday, a Sunday, when I was on it all day). Once it does

>> this, quitting all applications won't fix the problem, and merely

>> logging off then logging back on won't either. Only restarting the

>> comptuer will fix it.

>>

>> This is driving me nuts, and because I lack the precise information

>> I'd need to troubleshoot further, I can't really research it well.

>>

>> Anyone else ever had this happen, and what's the fix?

>

>

>if its an older processor (over 3 years), running the latest versions of

>software, and you are running 3-4 at the same time (are any of them p2p

>or torrent?), you will find some performance lag- esp. if you are heavy

>on antivrus and anti-spyware, software firewall, etc.....this is normal-

>esp. for windows.

>multitasking is not windows' forte.

>it appears you have enough ram, though.

>check your task manager (ctrl-alt delete) and see what processes are

>running....if there are any that dont appear recognisable, google them.

 

Processor is an Intel Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz. Issue isn't slowness in

taskbar buttons expanding to active window; issue is that a taskbar

button (sometimes) requires three separate clicks to become active.

One click and wait 30 seconds won't do it; three clicks in one second

will.

 

Elsewhere in the thread, I mention that I uninstalled a .NET service

pack, the introduction of which may have triggered this sporadic weird

behavior. We'll see.

[Guest mama@mia.mamamia]

Re: Switching among programs sometimes gets klunky in XP SP2

 

On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:52:35 -0800 (PST), sandy58

<aleckie60@googlemail.com> wrote:

>On Feb 26, 3:32 am, m...@mia.mamamia wrote:

>> Oh, two other things:

>>

>> 1. TweakUI doesn't fix the problem. I downloaded TweakUI and used

>> General/Focus and no matter how I set it, the problem persists.

>>

>> 2. When I said that I'd not made any changes to my computer and it

>> "just suddenly" started doing this, I overlooked one thing. Windows

>> update automatically downloaded and installed Microsoft .NET Framework

>> 2.0 Service Pack 1 (KB110806) one week ago on my computer. First

>> instance of the problem described at the top of this thread occurred

>> after that.

>

>I have just removed Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1

>(KB110806) an hour ago. I installed Sony Vegas Movie Studio which, in

>turn, insisted in installing it & two other MS bits. MS Visual C++

>2005 Redistribution & MS Win Installer 3.1. I removed the lot,

>including Sony Vegas Movie Studio. I was getting similar quirks as you

>when moving between drives (I was thinking of a dodgey hard drive) Now

>I'll wait to see if all quirks have gone. :-)

 

I just removed the SP as well. To this point today, granted I've only

been on the computer for less than an hour, the behavior described at

the start of this thread has not happened; nor has it happened since I

uninstalled the SP.

 

Even though your quirks weren't exactly the same as mine, I'm glad

that they were similar and perhaps related to this issue. Thought it

was just me alone!

[Guest mama@mia.mamamia]

Re: Switching among programs sometimes gets klunky in XP SP2

 

On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:53:51 -0500, mama@mia.mamamia wrote:

>On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:52:35 -0800 (PST), sandy58

><aleckie60@googlemail.com> wrote:

>

>>On Feb 26, 3:32 am, m...@mia.mamamia wrote:

>>> Oh, two other things:

>>>

>>> 1. TweakUI doesn't fix the problem. I downloaded TweakUI and used

>>> General/Focus and no matter how I set it, the problem persists.

>>>

>>> 2. When I said that I'd not made any changes to my computer and it

>>> "just suddenly" started doing this, I overlooked one thing. Windows

>>> update automatically downloaded and installed Microsoft .NET Framework

>>> 2.0 Service Pack 1 (KB110806) one week ago on my computer. First

>>> instance of the problem described at the top of this thread occurred

>>> after that.

>>

>>I have just removed Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1

>>(KB110806) an hour ago. I installed Sony Vegas Movie Studio which, in

>>turn, insisted in installing it & two other MS bits. MS Visual C++

>>2005 Redistribution & MS Win Installer 3.1. I removed the lot,

>>including Sony Vegas Movie Studio. I was getting similar quirks as you

>>when moving between drives (I was thinking of a dodgey hard drive) Now

>>I'll wait to see if all quirks have gone. :-)

>

>I just removed the SP as well. To this point today, granted I've only

>been on the computer for less than an hour, the behavior described at

>the start of this thread has not happened; nor has it happened since I

>uninstalled the SP.

>

>Even though your quirks weren't exactly the same as mine, I'm glad

>that they were similar and perhaps related to this issue. Thought it

>was just me alone!

 

Well, several days passed without this problem since I removed .NET

SP1. But now it's back today. The computer had been restarted, and

only Thunderbird and a couple typical site visits in Firefox happened

(typical as in stuff that is run all the time on the computer), and

the problem described at the top of this thread happened again.

 

I *really* would like a suggestion or five of things to try hoping to

eliminate it. Problem goes away after a restart - but as I said, we

had a clean restart today and the problem manifested itself quickly

somehow.