Kicked to desktop when playing Steam Games

When i am playing games, every now and again I get kicked to the desktop.

The game is still running, and I click on the icon to go back in.. but in a multiplier game this can be a real nightmare.

Any ideas?

Some software keeps calling the focus to itself , see what softwares are running while you are playing and close the ones that you don't want them to be running while you are in-game.

@godonholiday: Do you have a work VPN client set up on your computer? One app that does this constantly when playing Steam games is the Citrix client for remote connections. This happened to me for months before I figured out which app was doing it because it doesn't pop anything up, it just leaves you at the desktop. While there are probably other apps that might cause this, the Citrix client is the only one I know of for sure that behaves exactly like you describe.

If you have this app on your computer, all you have to do is close it when playing Steam games.

-Byshop

Thanks guys, computer has been acting a bit strange recently.. this, mouse stops moving but the buttons work.. It is quite a fresh install after upgrading everything.

Application wise, it is normally just chrome and steam. Proces wise.. seems like a lot of stuff going on, but I dont know what they all do,

This has happened to me before. I prefer getting my games from GOG if I can help it

@godonholiday:

So these tasks are probably fine:

• Chrome.exe (Chrome browser, obviously)
• DWM.exe (this is Aero in Windows)
• Sidebar.exe (Gadgets interface in Windows)
• rtkNGUI64 (Realtech audio software)
• nvtray, nvsvc, nvsteamsvc, nvbackend, and nvxdsync are all Nvidia card driver files
• mvstreamsvc (Nvidia streaming)
• winlogon (part of Windows)
• XBoxStat (Xbox 360 wireless controller manager)
• Taskhost (part of Windows)
• iastoricon (Intel RAID utility)
• vprot and avgui are part of your AVG anti-virus

All the Razer stuff -should- be fine, since they are a gaming focused company. The Asus style also -should- be OK but you might want to try closing some of those apps while you're gaming since you won't be actively using them in a game. Asus EZ Update is one that you don't really need to have running during a game. Asus Mini Bar also seems to give some people grief.

What I do see that is suspect is you have a lot of "push notification" type serivces running. While some of these should stay running (like the ones releated to your anti-virus), one of these other ones might be your problem. Push notification means just what it says, that a notification gets pushed to the service either by a service on the internet or another program on your computer. A service like that absolutely could grab focus of the desktop.

All the HID apps should be fine, like your Synapse controller or your Corsair Mouse app.

One other thing that was odd is it looks like you are running more than one anti-virus. This is generally not recommended as they can step on each other, although I don't know if that's the cause of your problem.

Good luck!

-Byshop