Certain apps won't stay minimized.

So when I, the user, minimize a program I want to be minimized, there's no option for me to disable whatever is overriding my commands in windows? Great, thanks Bill Gate.

Hi Thia Inconnu

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

Based on your description, I understand that some applications un-minimize when you interact with other windows or desktops, and I know exactly how you feel!

Since the text description may not be particularly clear, if it's convenient for you, could you record a video for me? Thank you very much!

If my understanding is wrong, please point it out in your reply.

I'll try to give you some options based on what I understand so far, and hopefully it will help you to stop this type of behavior or reduce it.

But before I do that, please allow me to explain to you what may be causing this problem.

1. Many games and high-intensity apps are designed to provide an immersive experience and therefore automatically gain focus to ensure the user's attention. UX design often prioritizes the smoothness of operation of these apps while running, which may have resulted in these programs being forced to unlock their maximized state when other apps are open or switched.
2. In Windows operating systems, application window management relies on focus and prioritization. Certain applications (e.g., games) may be given higher priority, and the system prioritizes ensuring that these applications, which handle high-performance demands, can respond quickly to user input. As a result, this design may cause some conflicts when minimizing and restoring application state.
3. Full-screen applications usually cover all other windows to ensure that the user's full attention is focused on the game or application. In this mode, when the user tries to interact with other windows or the desktop, the application is reactivated to protect the user's experience and avoid unexpected interruptions.

So in fact, this issue is strongly related to design, and there are actually a lot of benefits to this design from a design perspective. It can effectively avoid interruptions, mouse jamming and so on, especially when we play some shooting games.

I'm just a support person and I'm also a Windows user like you and I'm going to give you some of my personal advice that I hope will help you! However, if it's a design issue that is causing the problem, I can also help you get this issue back to the Windows development team through the Feedback Center.

Option 1: If the game you are playing supports windowed or borderless windowed mode, we can adjust to run in these two modes instead of full screen mode.

This way we can prevent the game from taking the focus of other applications.

Some games have settings related to focus behavior. Check the game's options menu to see if there are any settings that might prevent the game from getting focus.

Personally, I've never had this problem with “fake fullscreen” games like CS2, unless the input method is stuck. However, for example, in some “true fullscreen” single player games I sometimes adjust the window to be borderless, which sacrifices a bit of framerate but reduces the number of such instances.

Option 2: We can sometimes use third-party window management tools. Tools developed specifically for window management can help us manage the behavior of windows, allowing you to customize which windows or applications you want to minimize when interacting with other applications.

Due to community rules, I can't provide you with third-party applications, but you can find them on Github, Reddit, related forums, or by searching related content.

Alternatively, we can try writing an AutoHotkey script to automatically minimize a window when it is not minimized.

For example (the code below is just an example, you will need to modify the content to make it work):

#Persistent

SetTitleMatchMode, 2

Loop {

     IfWinActive, YourAPPTitle

     {

       WinMinimize, YourAPPTitle

     }

   Sleep, 1000
}

Replace “YourAPPTitle” with the actual title of your applications.

However, writing AutoHotKey scripts may require learning certain development skills and experience, or modifying some content, and may make this method less generalizable.

I personally think you can use some third-party window management tools or good.

Option 3: Some application or driver conflicts can cause interference with window focus.

Please try a clean boot of your computer.

Since Clean Boot uses only a limited set of files and drivers, it helps us to effectively troubleshoot the possibility of problems caused by third-party applications, driver conflicts, etc.

You can refer to Clean Boot: How to perform a clean boot in Windows - Microsoft Support

After clean boot, please slide down the webpage after opening the link and find “How to determine what is causing the problem after you do a clean boot” This is a dichotomy that can help us pinpoint the service that is causing the problem and disable it!

Disclaimer: A “clean boot” starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. It helps to determine whether a background service is interfering with your game or program and to isolate the cause of a problem. These steps of "clean boot" might look complicated at first glance. However, to avoid any trouble for you, please follow them in order and step-by step so that it will help you get back on track.

Option 4: We can try to see if there are any settings related to window management or focus in the graphics control panel of the card, especially in the “3D Settings”.

Option 5: Let's try using a different version of the video card driver to see if we can resolve this situation.

Let's uninstall the driver via DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) and then download the latest driver for the corresponding model from the graphics card manufacturer's website and install it.

The reason for using DDU is to prevent any file and registry leftovers.

If the latest version of the driver is not quite compatible, we can try some older and more compatible versions of the driver.

Option 6: Although this is less probable, we can still perform it.

We try to repair the system completely in two ways, at least to avoid problems that are not due to systemic file corruption or loss.

This step mainly helps us to minimize the situations where the system may cause problems.

1. Scan and repair the system from the command line.

Click “Windows Logo Key” to open the search bar -> Type “cmd” in the search bar and open it with administrator privileges -> Please enter the following command

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

SFC /Scannow

Please note: The above command needs to be repeated 5-6 times to ensure the integrity of the scan!

2. Please try non-destructive repair.

The steps are as follows

(1) First download the Media Creation Tool for Windows 10 via the following link. (Media Creation Tool)

The link is: Download Windows 10

Once the download is complete open it and select the ISO file.

(2) After downloading the ISO file, double click to open and run “setup.exe”.

(3) Under the “Install Windows 10” page, select “Change how the installer downloads updates”.

(4) Under the “Get Updates, Drivers, and Optional Features” screen, select “Not Now”.

(5) Follow the instructions to continue.

Please note: If prompted for a key, the downloaded ISO image file does not match the current system version.

(6) Under the Select what to keep screen, make sure you select “Keep personal files and applications” so that the contents of your computer will not be affected or lost.

(7) Start the non-destructive repair.

I sincerely hope that the above solution will solve your problem. Please feel free to contact me (Photos related to the question would be great!).

I look forward to hearing back from you. 

Best Regards

Arthur Sheng | Microsoft Community Support Specialist