OT...FSX randomly minimizes (other games too)

I don't believe the Op is experiencing an actual 'crash' but in fact a loss of focus that causes FSX to minimize from Full Screen.
That's not a crash but simply a RUDE interuption by another process.

To get back into the game full screen you can alt-tab to hilight FSX and then hit 'enter' ...it'll be back to normal.

Unfortunately too many program makers think THEIR program is more important than anything you might be doing and they WILL steal focus from you and minimize whatever you only 'thought' was more important - in our case ....that's FSX.

If it all becomes too much to bear the solution is to hunt down EVERY program/process that thinks it's superior/important and shut it down...disable it....uninstall it....or at the very least tell it NOT to be always checking for updates, etc [goes for Windows Update too] ...;)
 
Jafo said:
...

If it all becomes too much to bear the solution is to hunt down EVERY program/process that thinks it's superior/important and shut it down...disable it....uninstall it....or at the very least tell it NOT to be always checking for updates, etc [goes for Windows Update too] ...;)
Click to expand...

This is where I am. I have narrowed it down to windows system 32 file "rundll32.exe" which opens a sub app by the same name. That file then calls an executable called " suragateCom.exe". I have scanned these file for malware and virus and found none. I have one more thing to try when I return home. If that doesn't work I will uninstall 7, format the disk and reinstall. As it is, FSX is unflyable with this happinging.

When this file runs, it hits the CPU for up to 53% which causes any, that's ANY, currently running app to pause. If you're typing when this occurs the curser will pause and you skip letters until the event is over and if you are not paying attention you can end up with jibberish laced throughout your doc! If you are in a game in full screen mode it will minimize the game to the task bar and for some games the only way to get them back is the old 3 finger salute.
 
Duckie, did you do a search for " suragateCom.exe"? Might help to identify what program installed it or its origin.

If its part of your OS and created by MS, you can research its purpose on their tech site. If it was installed by another program, sometimes there are options to prevent it from running.

I did a search for it on my machine (Win8.1) and found nothing.

BTW - do you use CCCleaner? It has a tab that identifies all the programs that run on startup. In doing some research on this subject, I came across some threads that pointed to programs that update HP Printer software. Anyways, I'm looking at these as possible culprits for my experience since some programs tend to run at random and can minimize FSX if they are runningat the same time.
 
Duckie, I can sympathise with this issue as it has affected me for some time. Not sure if your running FSX Acceleration or not but I used to only have FSX Deluxe and the startup and menu manager became like sludge (with no real demands on CPU typically @ 53% on my dual core), I installed Accelaration and find that the start up is still slow but the menu manager and selection is fine.

I have no magic answers and I think the primary problem is the fact that it is a 32 bit program running on a 64 bit system (Win7 et al). When you go back to basics a key problem and one which I cannot fix, is there are issues with the window display and boxing, the data contained with the borders of the program box within the screen, how the window is drawn and what is displayed is contingent on a huge number of low level script dialogues and the OS prioritisation of that sequence plus or minus what is kept in memory for display or for the program that is running and hence actively displayed not just held open. The trouble with FSX is that is now such a patchwork of stuff it is very hard to know where to go and what add on or other area is choking or forgetting the data calls and priorities.

The best I can offer is the following that worked for me:

1. I run a little program called FlusiFix06 this resets a lot of data definitions but more importantly cleans up the thousands of xml gauge files that are on a system, many not used etc.

2. I move all the aircraft I do not use regularly into a separate folder I call Hangar and keep them there until I feel the need to use them or go flying in something different.

3. I have all my addon scenery parked in external directories on my main drive but not within the main FSX scenery drive, FSX has no problems accessing these files and the file manager lets you work this way as well.

4. I have deleted the automation.dll file from my system all together, it only helped with screen switches or view changes in VC mode and I have had no problems what so ever operating FSX without it.

5. I shutdown every automated update program but not the virus scanner which is not an issue for me with Norton as it is just the firewall manager and causes me no grief.

6. The two big automated update culprits are: - Adobe and Microsoft. Adobe will just push itself in over any priority and run unless you kill it and it will kill your performance. As for MS updates I am snookered no matter how many times I have shut if off etc., it will run randomly and without permission and kill FSX completely by once again taking over CPU time and file priorities. There is also buried within that process a data transfer out of what you have on your system and its license authenticity which is going back to MS. I effectively now realise that MS has designed into Win7 etc a controlled license environment whereby they were hoping to make the OS an annual billed working system, not one they sold to you and you owned and controlled, the vestiges of that design are buried within WIN and I am sure generate random calls and file activity. And last not least the security and MS program updates play havoc with my system and I am constantly having to go into the OS and select fix problems and fix problems with MS updates. I guess that is because each new update takes you away from the basic design to another fix or change and sometimes like a pile of dominoes they just fall over each other.

7. If I want a quiet time I do not connect to the internet at all and have the modem internet connection shut off when I sim, If I want hangs and delays and real time weather via REX then I will connect. The observable performance difference is notable and trouble free when FSX is running sans internet connection.

8. With all the above FSX is ok but not perfect and never will be but at least I have no more OOM messages or hangs or window draw problems.

9. Finally check your video drivers, hiccups in the way the video card is processing information can also produce this behaviour.

Hope some of the above is helpful.
 
Thanks for all the comments, tips and suggestions. Finally got something going. It is not an FSX problem or a MS or OS problem. My Problem was...WAS...a stealthy registry virus, relatively new, contracted by any of a number of deliver systems, most of the usual ones but some not so usual. Mine most likely came from a java update! It is known as "Poweliks". Nasty bug that is not recognized (yet) by Malwarebytes or most AVs because it is not a file or executable. Norton is on to it and others are catching up but not there yet.

I've been working with the guys at http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ and they're just about done. Still got some cleaning up to do but I'm getting there. Hope to be back at full speed soon.

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for all your support.
 
Just to share my experience: that problem is not always because of a virus.
Some background programs might also have the same effect.
In my case, the minimizing of my games is caused by a program called "Citrix Receiver", which is a kind of remote desktop service I use for my work. When I deactivate this program, the minimizing does not happen anymore.
 
Same thing started with me a few days ago!

I had the same thing happen a few days ago and tagged it to the latest NVIDIA update. After deleting the NVIDIA experience install and the 3D drivers which I don't personally use all went back to normality. If you have updated the Nvidia drivers perhaps its causing the same issue for you as it did for me.
 
WarHorse47 said:
Thought I might :bump: this topic and ask if anyone continues to encounter this issue or found a common cause.
Click to expand...

WH, as I said above re my situation, mine was a registry virus that neither my Bitdefender nor Malwarebytes recognized. The bleepingcomputer.com guys were on it and suggested that I most likely contracted it from and non-updated version of JAVA. Since their repair and me keeping Java updated it hasn't reappeared.
 
I don't know if this will help, but my pc recently started pausing fsx every couple of minutes or so. I mean the game was actually paused with the paused message at the bottom left of the screen I finally ran task manager while running fsx in windowed mode. I saw fsx was pausing when the system was reporting an error.

I realized that I had recently started cancelling all of the programs that are in the tray when my laptop starts ( I use it for work ) including one drive, Dropbox, ACT!, GoToMyPC, gotomeeting, etc. I figured stopping all of these would free up the processor and memory. As time went on, I became more and more aggressive with stopping running tasks and services

On a lark, I started fsx and didn't shut anything down, and FSX ran fine. So although I don't know exactly what I was shutting down that cased the problem, something was. And when my system was reporting the problem, fsx was being paused.

I still need to go back and see what the culprit was.

But your problem seems similar.
 
I don't think what I'm experiencing is caused by anything external to FSX. My system has 16 Gb of ram which is more than enough memory for a things to run in the background while I'm running FSX. On one or two occasions there might be something that runs an update, but that just seems to affect the FSX framerates and doesn't minimize the sim.

When FSX minimizes on my machine, its typically within a few minutes of loading and starting a flight. It seems to occur more with some of the latest payware aircraft.

When FSX minimizes it pauses the sim. After I maximize it, the screen is black and I have to shift between window mode and full screen mode to get the view back. Once the view is back, I can un-pause it and resume my flight where it was interrupted.

I'm still trying to figure the cause. I suspect it is something within FSX like a specific gauge or sound file or something that is common to one or more recent payware aircraft. It happened earlier today with my A2A WoP3 Mustang.

Some of the possible culprits might be FSUIPC, simconnect, CH Control Manager or maybe some other module running in the background. No way to tell since there is no error message.
 
Just to say:

I don't like nor trust Norton.. I have seen it do many weird and bad things to computers. The least of which is to get infected then NOT have the ability to see or clean any recent infections, be it malware, fake trojans, or just a virus. And I mean I see it over and over on computers that come to me sick to be repaired.

My advice.. uninstall Norton, and get a free trail of Kaspersky on their sight. Its a full version for 30 days.. Install it, update it then run a full system scan and see whats really going on. If you like Norton, then put it back on... Norton is a resorse HOG to say the least.
 
Duckie said:
This is where I am. I have narrowed it down to windows system 32 file "rundll32.exe" which opens a sub app by the same name. That file then calls an executable called " suragateCom.exe". I have scanned these file for malware and virus and found none. I have one more thing to try when I return home. If that doesn't work I will uninstall 7, format the disk and reinstall. As it is, FSX is unflyable with this happinging.

When this file runs, it hits the CPU for up to 53% which causes any, that's ANY, currently running app to pause. If you're typing when this occurs the curser will pause and you skip letters until the event is over and if you are not paying attention you can end up with jibberish laced throughout your doc! If you are in a game in full screen mode it will minimize the game to the task bar and for some games the only way to get them back is the old 3 finger salute.
Click to expand...

I have been following this thread, and similar ones, for about a week. I've been having the same problem for about a week. I've run FSX in full screen for years and have never had any problems. Sorry to say that I've tried all sorts of things and have not yet come up with a solution. This post by Duckie seems most similar to my experience, especially with regard to typing and having the keyboard input "cut out" momentarily (without FSX running). Anyhow, just saying that I'm on board with y'all in trying to fix this thing. By the way, when flying with screen reduced, flying is not interrupted but the sound cuts out for about half a second. I've timed the interruptions and they occur at a fairly regular rate of 62 to 69 seconds. Seems like it shouldn't be too hard to find the culprit, but so far no cigar.
 
Try Action Center

I think this was mentioned but I haven't found the post. In Windows 7 I went to Action Center in Control Panel (or type Action Center in the start menu). In Action Center select Maintenance > Check for solutions to problem reports > Settings > if "Automatically check for solutions" is checked, change it to " Each time a problem occurs, ask me. . . ."

My full screen was minimizing and pausing at about 1 minute intervals. After making this change I used FSX for about 30 minutes in full screen without problems. I then changed back to the original setting and FSX started minimizing again, as before. I changed the setting once again and was again able to "fly" in full screen without interruptions.

This technique may be more of a workaround than a solution to the basic problem, but I have not yet found the program/s app/s that are causing the problem. I have always used FSX in full screen for several years. This minimizing problem started happening about a week ago. Something changed and I haven't found it yet.
 
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