MSI GE70 runs Windows 8 randomly sends me to desktop, why?

ambarofkotu

New Member
Messages
6
Hello world.

I have an MSI GE70 laptop running Windows 8. I've had it for maybe 2 years now, but this is only a minor annoyance so until I had some free time I just put up with it.

About once or twice a day, my laptop will randomly go to desktop/have no active window. If I am in a full screen program, it will boot me out to look at my desktop. If I am in a windowed program, it just grays out as if I had clicked on the desktop. It always does this twice, the second instance occurring within 10 seconds of the first. I don't know if it would happen in an app, since I typically use my computer the old-fashioned Windows way.

Does anybody have any idea why this happens, or, more importantly, how to make it stop? Brief google didn't pull up anyone else with this problem. I tried to describe it to some people in IT, and they hadn't heard of anything like this (or claimed they hadn't to make me go away lol).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ambar
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Sounds like something is stealing focus. This will happen when focus switches from one window to another. Is there any other programs running? Perhaps one that is doing something then at some point along the way needs user intervention?

Do you have any antivirus software installed? If so run a scan with it. If not, I recommend Comodo Internet Security. Then after that finishes I would run a scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

See what that comes up with for you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 @ 3.3-3.7 Ghz
    Motherboard
    MSI Z77-G41
    Memory
    16 GB Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3-1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GT 730
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 20 Inch Dell
    Screen Resolution
    1680*1050
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB
    Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB
    PSU
    Thermaltake 550W
    Case
    Antec Nine Hundred Two
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer i30 CO
    Keyboard
    Logitech K330
    Mouse
    Logitech M215
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbps
    Browser
    Comodo Chromodo
    Antivirus
    Comodo Internet Security Premium
This will happen with only one program open (that I know of, can background programs steal focus?) or multiple. Usually if something needs user intervention it will have the start bar icon glow yellow, and that is usually not happening during this phenomenon. I have Avira's free antivirus software, I will try a scan with that and then try the Malwarebytes thing.

Thanks for the reply!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Your welcome. Please post any details you find or end up with here.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 @ 3.3-3.7 Ghz
    Motherboard
    MSI Z77-G41
    Memory
    16 GB Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3-1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GT 730
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 20 Inch Dell
    Screen Resolution
    1680*1050
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB
    Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB
    PSU
    Thermaltake 550W
    Case
    Antec Nine Hundred Two
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer i30 CO
    Keyboard
    Logitech K330
    Mouse
    Logitech M215
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbps
    Browser
    Comodo Chromodo
    Antivirus
    Comodo Internet Security Premium
OK, ran the full scan with Avira, and it came up with one error/warning message:

"C:\swapfile.sys [WARNING] The file could not be opened!"

I tried to run the malwarebytes scan, but my computer denied it access to the registry, so I will try that again today.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Its odd that there is a file called swapfile.sys. Can you open up the properties and see what the size of it is? Normally its a file called pagefile.sys that stores your page file and is usually few GB in size.

EDIT:

It appears that with Windows 8 and Windows 10 there is a new swapfile.sys that is used in a similar manner to the pagefile.sys.

What Is Swapfile.sys? - How To Geek

Read that for more info on it.

This explains why Avira isnt able to open it.

Avira Unable To Open Swapfile.sys

Ultimately it is nothing to worry about. The swapfile.sys is not an archive like other .sys files are and is not readable for programs like Avira so it will report it as it could not be opened.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 @ 3.3-3.7 Ghz
    Motherboard
    MSI Z77-G41
    Memory
    16 GB Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3-1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GT 730
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 20 Inch Dell
    Screen Resolution
    1680*1050
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB
    Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB
    PSU
    Thermaltake 550W
    Case
    Antec Nine Hundred Two
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer i30 CO
    Keyboard
    Logitech K330
    Mouse
    Logitech M215
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbps
    Browser
    Comodo Chromodo
    Antivirus
    Comodo Internet Security Premium
Could this be what is stealing focus? From the first link in your post,

“Windows 8 can efficiently write the whole (private) working set of a suspended Modern app to disk in order to gain additional memory when the system detects pressure. This process is analogous to hibernating a specific app, and then resuming it when the user switches back to the app. In this case, Windows 8 takes advantage of the suspend/resume mechanism of Modern apps to empty or re-populate an app’s working set.” (emphasis mine)

I honestly don't have a thorough understanding of the inner workings of my computer, so I'm not sure this quote actually is even related to swapping focus. But that's what it sounded like to me. Could there be a problem with my swapfile causing me to go to desktop randomly? And how would I fix that?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
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