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The symptoms are, that some (not all) desktop app windows will stay in the background, behind other windows, even though I have click on them, which would normally make that window receive focus and come to the foreground, above any other overlapping windows. I haven't found much rhyme or reason either. The two apps that exhibit this behavior the most, are Chrome and Visual Studio (the two apps I use more than any others, unfortunately). The other odd thing about it, is that sometimes, this isn't the case (like right now), and all windows behave as expected.

Factors:

  • Windows 8.1
  • Dell Precision Laptop (2 years old)
  • 3 displays total, counting the laptop LCD
  • Internal LCD and a Samsung LCD monitor connected to VGA port are controlled by an Intel HD Graphics 4000 card
  • A Gateway monitor is connected to the HDMI port and controlled by an Nvidia Quadro K4000m Adaptor

I found one other question dealing with the same thing, but has received no answers, so I thought I'd ask to see if someone has a solution. This other question has an animated gif showing the behavior. The other question is here

Any ideas out there? This is majorly frustrating. When this happens, I have to drag the window I want to see to another monitor, and sometimes, minimize other windows on that monitor.

* EDIT - NEW INFO * After some deliberate investigation and research, I have determined that, at least for now, the problem seems to be specifically Visual Studio 2013. Apparently, when I go into debug mode (currently using the Azure Emulator, which may or may not have anything to do with it), I was able to replicate the behavior (only for the visual studio window, which may have been the problem all along, but I could have sworn that Chrome exhibited the same behavior). In this case, visual studio is in a "Stay on top" mode. So far, the only way I have found to clear it, is to exit VS and restart, which isn't a good solution. I haven't found a switch in VS to control that behavior, but it might be in there somewhere. If I find something, I will post the solution here.

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Richard B
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  • Do you have any software that changes the behavior of Windows? for instance one that makes the start menu appear into of the start screen? – Ramhound Feb 18 '15 at 18:48
  • @Ramhound, I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but it sounds like you're asking if I have some utility running that would, for instance, add a traditional Windows start popup menu, instead of the win8 start screen. if so, the answer would be no. I have no third party utilities to change the behavior of the shell, at all. See my edit for new info I discovered. – Richard B Feb 18 '15 at 21:59
  • I've started seeing this behavior with 8.1 after Feb. 2015's patches. Everything from Outlook to Chrome to Remote Desktop Connection Manager will *sometimes*, but often, just appear stuck in the background. No amount of clicking on the background window will bring it to the foreground. I end up minimizing other windows in front of the "stuck" window in order to use it. – Richard Feb 19 '15 at 17:51
  • Not sure if this will work for you, but the top answer here (http://superuser.com/questions/269415/show-desktop-sometimes-sets-a-window-to-always-on-top) appears to have helped me. – Richard Feb 19 '15 at 18:04
  • @Richard, Unfortunately, no. Today, I have two Chrome windows open, as well as MS Word, all on the same monitor (of a multi monitor setup). Here's the crazy part: one of the chrome windows will switch focus with Word, just fine, but the other stays behind the Word window (or the other Chrome window!). It's just crazy. I feel like this has to be a crazy display driver issue, or an OS issue. – Richard B Mar 17 '15 at 16:27

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It's possible that some application was set to "Stay on top" which causes it to remain in the foreground even after you've switched focus to another window (e.g. Playing a video in VLC Media Player with Video → Always on Top checked)

If you'd like certain windows to always remain on top, you could use this tiny utility from Labnol.org built using AutoHotkey. Run the program and press Ctrl+Space whenever you want the currently focused window to always remain on top.

Press Ctrl+Space again to deactivate.

If you'd like to compile the AutoHotkey script yourself, this one line of code is the source (uses WinSet):

^SPACE::  WinSet, AlwaysOnTop, , A
Vinayak
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  • Thanks for the reply, @Vinayak. I just added an edit to my post detailing some new info I found. I tried AutoHotkey years ago, but never really put any time into it, and failed to install it on my new machine. I may need to investigate it again. Whatever the problem is, it seems to be isolated to Visual Studio. Thanks, again. – Richard B Feb 18 '15 at 22:04
  • @RichardB Does this script help with the problem? Are you able to de-activate "stay on top" mode? – Vinayak Feb 19 '15 at 15:44
  • Thanks again for the reply, but I haven't installed AutoHotKey, and therefore haven't tried running the script. While it may be the only viable workaround, I'd rather not rely on a 3rd party program to change what should change with a simple focus. I did upvote your answer, but not marking it as the accepted answer, as it doesn't address the actual problem (i.e. is it a driver, OS, or other issue). – Richard B Mar 17 '15 at 16:19