i can't alt-tab out of a steam game, counter-strike. it's never done this before, and i'm trying to think of what i may have done for this to occur, but nothing comes to me. the only thing i can do to get out of the game is by quitting the game itself, or ctrl-alt-del to task manager. when i go to task manager, it says that the "aero" theme of vista isn't compatible with the game. like i said, it's never had this problem before. any help is greatly appreciated.

try ALT-ESC

Not sure what the problem is, but you could try using the windows key to get out of it.

alt-esc does the same thing as the rest. whenever i try to goto windows desktop, it brings up a black blank screen, making me have to ctrl-alt-del into task manager.

bump. still having the problem. it has nothing to do with what i press btw. something conflicting with hl.exe (counterstrike) and vista's aero theme.

my suggestion is to change your vista theme while you are playing counterstrike.

Originally Posted by bj860

my suggestion is to change your vista theme while you are playing counterstrike.

Doesn't help. I've tried even putting it on the old XP-style theme, and it still does it.

Originally Posted by Crispy2007

Try CTRL+ALT+DEL and open Task bar manager and then try alt tab between the two.

The only way I can alt-tab out is because of ctrl+alt+del and the vista menu it brings up. after that, even if the task manager is open, when i go back into counterstrike and try to alt-tab out again, it does the same thing.

I've just been dealing with it, even though it's a royal pita

Only response I got from the ATI forum was something about a DirectX and OpenGL conflict (counterstrike runs in OpenGL). I tried reverting back to older ATI drivers, but it still continued. I'm just lost. Probably going to end up installing Windows 7 if I can't find an answer soon.

ATI/AMD forum link: http://forums.amd.com/game/messagevi...hreadid=119366

I had the exact same problem (as well as two other friends) after updating ATI drivers. I just system restored and everything went back to normal.

i've tried system restore, too. i even completely wiped my hard drive and reinstalled everything. i STILL get it. i guess i'll just have to wait until ATI fixes the problem...