Apps on my desktop randomly switching focus. Not limited to Explorer taking focus. Started with my 22H2 to 23H2 update. I will attach a file describing the problem and my attempts to change the symptoms. None have worked. If there is a better Forum to post this please let me know. This is causing me all kinds of problems.
TIA, Dick
I got ahead of myself. I just marked this as Unresolved. I did a Macrium restore this evening back to immediately after the original 22H2 to 23H2 upgrade and things were looking good. However.... The good news is I haven't seen any random window app switches. The bad new is that I still see random screen 'blinks'. I haven't had time to see what the pattern might be [or no pattern]. I'm at build 22631.3007 after the restore. WUMGR only had two updates pending, KB5034467 and KB5034204. Settings/WU only shows the KB5034204 pending. I have hidden both until I can do some research and until I can figure out where I'm at. I don't seem to have any app problems and Device Manager looks fine. I would guess I'm going to start going through Event Manager now that I have a clear date target. If all I have to deal with are 'blinks' that is a giant stride.
Thanks for keeping me honest
Make sure the graphics divers are up-to-date. In fact, make sure all drivers are up-to-date.
You could also try running this batch file. It contains Windows SFC, DISM and CHKDSK commands, which could be done manually but it is a quicker way and takes just two clicks to start it.
I'm glad I marked this unresolved. Now that I have had a chance to exercise the system:
Still seeing some screen flicker.
Seeing multiple switches from an open desktop Outlook mail view to a desktop Outlook Inbox view.
Seeing multiple switching between two open Word docs.
Just switched from typing this reply to an open Word document. If I don't type anything else and just watch I can see the switch happen back to the same open Word document. In fact the cursor goes back to the same place in the 'other' Word document that is open for editing.
What drives me crazy is that this problem is completely new to 23H2. Same system as a rock solid 22H2 system. No new devices, no new drives, same physical configuration. Very stable. Problems started immediately after 23H2 upgrade. I'm looking at adding a discrete graphics card just to take the onboard graphics off the table.
It's almost like there is something keeping track of open apps and switching for some reason that I'm not seeing.
Since my last post:
Rolled back to build 22631.2861. Did a in-place repair using a build 22631.2861 ISO. [repair worked as advertised and no change to symptoms]
Swapped in a different wired keyboard. [no change]
Tried to repair .NET 4.8. That was a saga itself. Windows wouldn't let me because there are later .NET levels installed. I did confirm the .NET libraries for 4.8.1 were installed based on the Registry.
Ran online repair of MS365 after making sure MS365 was up to date with updates. [no change]
My conclusion so far is that I have a problem introduced when I went to 23H2. I think it is more likely to be an application problem than a hardware problem. I think the application came along with some new feature or 23H2-specific change. This system was rock solid at 22H2.
I have a windows build 22H2 restore file that I could roll back to with some confidence the problem would go away. I'm too stubborn to do that and it is not a good long term decision.
I decided to start looking at the Event Viewer. Based on a quick look at the System and Application logs I made a custom view that captures the last hour of Application log events and then saved them. I did that multiple times and what a surprise. I'm seeing events I don't have the experience to interpret. Basically the same two events take place every two minutes and show up whenever I take a peek.
I'll attach two event files. The pattern is the same two events every two minutes forever. They pointed me at .NET 4.0 and that was the reason I attempted to do the .NET Repair [and failed].
I sure could use some help looking at the event details and some suggestions and/or feedback on what somebody sees. One other tidbit is that the switches return to the last open window in focus. Last open Word doc, last open Chrome window, last Explorer view, etc. Crazy!
I used a tool called FullEventLogView from Nir Sofer to capture details for a pair of events. I will attach them as PDF files. I hope somebody can point me at something else to try or have some 'ah ha' moment.
TIA
Dick
Solved two: I should have seen earlier that I had two sets of symptoms. One set was dynamic and unpredictable and another set was predictable and were occurring as long as my system was running.
Solution 1:The switching problem was solved by going to the MUC and getting a fresh copy of KB5034123. When I rolled back to build 2861 it should have dawned on me the rolled back system had never seen KB5034123. I decided to install the MUC copy and the install went fine. It was a little jerky but completed successfully. I am now on build 22631.3007 with no dynamic task switching.
Solution 2: I finally looked at the Task Scheduler for something running every two minutes as long as the system was up. There was only one. It was a task to keep Spotify alive. Something called Priconfig. It started a program SpotifyWidgetProvider.vbs and was set to run indefinitely. I don't use Spotify and don't plan to. I uninstalled Spotify and disabled the task. That has stopped the Event Viewer events every two minutes.
