Solved Minimizing on Vista

Slammer

Destroyer of Tyranny
Vista Guru
I've been into computer gaming for years, and only recently (well, less than a year anyway) went from XP to Vista. Unfortunately, the majority of the games I play (mostly newer, modern games) will not come back up properly after being minimized on Vista (usually by pressing the Windows key, but I've also experimented with ctrl+shft+esc, alt+tab, or have just had some notification balloon pop up that forces the game to minimize, and they all have the same effect) then trying to go back into them by clicking on their rectangle in the Taskbar. On XP, I loved how I could easily minimize a game, do something quick, then go go back into it, but in Vista, this causes the game to freeze and stop responding with almost all of them. The only one I've noticed this doesn't happen with is Dawn of War. I don't know if this is maybe just a Video Card thing, or a Vista thing, or something else entirely but either way I'd love to know if anyone has a way of fixing this. Most games would come back up perfectly of XP. (Also, going with Comparability Mode for the game doesn't fix it haha) I'd appreciate any ideas.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1545
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.00 GHz
    Motherboard
    DELL - 27d90219 Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (DPMS), 15.3" (34cm x 19cm)
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Internal 320 GB
    Portable 320 GB used for separate storage of media, plugged into USB port as needed.
    Cooling
    Single built in fan
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touchpad, + Logitech wireless mouse (USB)
    Internet Speed
    ~150 kilobytes/sec DL
    Other Info
    Usually have low HD free space left (<10 GB), often left on overnight. I really push its capabilities.
Nobody has anything?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1545
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.00 GHz
    Motherboard
    DELL - 27d90219 Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (DPMS), 15.3" (34cm x 19cm)
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Internal 320 GB
    Portable 320 GB used for separate storage of media, plugged into USB port as needed.
    Cooling
    Single built in fan
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touchpad, + Logitech wireless mouse (USB)
    Internet Speed
    ~150 kilobytes/sec DL
    Other Info
    Usually have low HD free space left (<10 GB), often left on overnight. I really push its capabilities.
Well Im not nobody cause I have something, if it works or not
windows key and d, mimimizes all screens.
Do it a second time and game should come back
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
The reason it does this is because windows NT based operating systems don't actually have true multitasking, my experience of minimizing is sketchy, it tends to put games into a frozen state, it does it with videos being played on a browser, the audio will still play normal but the video is in a frozen state, this could be why you are having issues minimizing.

MrNeeds
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    Intel Q6600 @ 2.8GHz
    Motherboard
    Evga NF78-CK-132-A 3-Way SLI
    Memory
    8Gb DDR2 Corsair Dominator @ 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 560 GTX SC FTW 1GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC888 7.1 Audio, Logitech G35 7.1 Surround Headset
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell S2409W 16:9, HDMi, DVI & VGA
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 7200rpm 250Gb SATA,
    Samsung 7200rpm 750Gb SATA,
    WD 7200rpm 1TB SCSI SATA.
    PSU
    Xigmatek 750W Quad sli quad core 80% eff
    Case
    Antec 900 Gaming Case
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9700-NT NVIDIA Tritium, Dominator RAM cooler
    Keyboard
    Logitech generic keyboard
    Mouse
    Razor Lachesis Banshee V2 Blue, 4000DPI
    Internet Speed
    16Mb Sky bb
    Other Info
    Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, Wireless Xbox 360 Pad, Wireless Xbox 360 Les Paul Guitar
Darn. That's disappointing. But I'm glad to know it's not just something wrong with my computer! Thanks for the info. I figured it probably couldn't be fixed.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1545
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.00 GHz
    Motherboard
    DELL - 27d90219 Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (DPMS), 15.3" (34cm x 19cm)
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Internal 320 GB
    Portable 320 GB used for separate storage of media, plugged into USB port as needed.
    Cooling
    Single built in fan
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touchpad, + Logitech wireless mouse (USB)
    Internet Speed
    ~150 kilobytes/sec DL
    Other Info
    Usually have low HD free space left (<10 GB), often left on overnight. I really push its capabilities.
Also, do you know why some games (such as Dawn of War) seem to work just fine after being minimized?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1545
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.00 GHz
    Motherboard
    DELL - 27d90219 Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (DPMS), 15.3" (34cm x 19cm)
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Internal 320 GB
    Portable 320 GB used for separate storage of media, plugged into USB port as needed.
    Cooling
    Single built in fan
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touchpad, + Logitech wireless mouse (USB)
    Internet Speed
    ~150 kilobytes/sec DL
    Other Info
    Usually have low HD free space left (<10 GB), often left on overnight. I really push its capabilities.
Most of the games I own work fine after being minimized, but if I'm playing online or on a loading screen, the game crashes when I return to it, it's upto the developer to allow the frozen state to happen, obviously Dawn of war was made to do this :-)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    Intel Q6600 @ 2.8GHz
    Motherboard
    Evga NF78-CK-132-A 3-Way SLI
    Memory
    8Gb DDR2 Corsair Dominator @ 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 560 GTX SC FTW 1GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC888 7.1 Audio, Logitech G35 7.1 Surround Headset
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell S2409W 16:9, HDMi, DVI & VGA
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 7200rpm 250Gb SATA,
    Samsung 7200rpm 750Gb SATA,
    WD 7200rpm 1TB SCSI SATA.
    PSU
    Xigmatek 750W Quad sli quad core 80% eff
    Case
    Antec 900 Gaming Case
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9700-NT NVIDIA Tritium, Dominator RAM cooler
    Keyboard
    Logitech generic keyboard
    Mouse
    Razor Lachesis Banshee V2 Blue, 4000DPI
    Internet Speed
    16Mb Sky bb
    Other Info
    Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, Wireless Xbox 360 Pad, Wireless Xbox 360 Les Paul Guitar
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