New windows looses focus

Question

If I have a few open Windows open on task bar and then ask for Notepad to open all that happens is that the notepad flashes for a fraction of a second and closes. Notepad is now at bottom of stack and not on top.

I read that others have the same problem and that they fixed it by making changes in registry so that focus is given to new window, but this hasn't worked for me.

Any ideas how to fix it? I'm using Windows 7 pro 64 bit.

Answer 1

IF you can repeatedly reproduce the problem then try hunting it down to find software in your PC which is causing this. I was able to find origin of some different strange problem this way.

1. Find steps to reproduce the problem (at least in 30% of retries).

2. Exit running programs and after every one or two exits, try to reproduce the problem again.
   a) exit running applications
   b) exit taskbar tray applications
   c) stop some exotic non-Microsoft services (if you have any)
   d) disconnect peripherals, start with less usual ones (it's about their drivers)
       d1) you can also try to disable them in Device Manager

3. If you reliably find that there is an application stopping of which causes problem to disappear, restart your PC and confirm the finding only by exiting the application alone.

OK, I shared how do I solve strange problems which appear only on single computer. I wish you success with your troubleshooting.