Desktop switching issue

[coda]

I have a strange issue when playing SC2 or any of the combat mission games. Every so often the game will automatically switch back to my desktop view (just like hitting alt-tab). When I switch back to the game, the graphics don't always refresh correctly anymore.

Since this happens in more than one game, it is probably not a game issue. I'm just looking for anyone who has an idea what might be causing this, it is a REAL pain.

[Schrullenhaft]

That sounds strange. I don't know what would be causing such an issue, but I'd recommend trying to close down any programs/utilities/apps running in the background. Possibly one of these programs is causing the system to pull its focus from the game that is running back to the desktop (in order to give it more processor time).

Do a Ctrl-Alt-Del and click on the Processes tab and see what is running. Multiple instances of 'svchost.exe' are completely normal. You can also ignore: lsass.exe, services.exe, spoolsv.exe, explorer.exe, winlogon.exe, smss.exe, System, System Idle Process (other than to see if it is the majority of the CPU time, which it often is), alg.exe (if you're using the built-in Windows "firewall"), taskmgr.exe (which is the Task Manager that you're looking at), csrss.exe. Everything else is somewhat optional and possibly suspect. If you're running an anti-virus program it may have many little programs running to support its functionality. Video drivers can often load up background utilities too (which may be necessary).

Anyway, try to close down some of these 'optional' programs and then run your game and see if it switches out to the desktop (assuming that this happens on a frequent and easily repeatable basis). You can also close down some utilities from the system tray (the lower right hand corner) with right-mouse clicks on the icons (you will probably have to disable your anti-virus/3rd party firewall this way).

See if any of this helps. You may also want to check your system for viruses, spyware, trojans, etc. Since something like this may be interfering with your system.

If none of this works, you may have 'deeper' symptoms that may involve uninstalling programs, drivers (updating or backdating), etc.