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So, recently ive started having this problem, a "program" of unknown origin will pop up and minimise / unfocus any program im using at that current time.
For instance - When running Dark Souls, it will randomly just minimise and i'll briefly see this program in the task bar. When running a game in fullscreen windowed, i will see it pop up and "unfocus" the game for about 1/2 second and then return to normal.
The program looks like 2 cogs (1 big, 1 small, overlapping, im sure you know what i mean.)
Ive tried to locate it to the best of my ability but the symptoms happen too fast for me to catch, ive sat and stared at task manager trying to see it but its impossible, sometimes i notice 2 new programs startup and close, sometimes nothing happens, 90% of the time i get the cogs on the task bar.
I dont think i installed any "dodgy" software and i uninstalled anything i had in the last week and completely cleaned my system, the problem persisted.
I looked up online what could be causing it and there were no definitive answers, other then to port all my settings to a new windows profile, this fixed the issue for about 4 days and then it returned.
I believe this started when i was installing fallout: new vegas mods and it went a bit edgy (nexus mod manager just crashing during installation of anything) i put it down to program instability, as it is still in beta.
Following this, ive uninstalled everything i could think of to be of harm (recent games, programs, crap) and run cleaners and spyware / virus scans (CCleaner, Spybot, AVG) multiple times before and after uninstalling things and have had no success. Note: Googling will show this as an issue with AVG, i installed AVG after this problem began just to scan for viruses.
Ive gone into all my folders and cleared out crap and strange programs sitting there that look like they shouldnt be and nothings worked.
I know you will all tell me to run a clean install of win7 but i cant atm, i lost my install disk in the move to sri lanka and downloading a new version would take forever + be expensive on my download limit here (fucking tight internet companies jesus.)
Does anyone have any ideas on how to help me and solve this issue? Thanks 
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Have you checked for any weird processes running in the background?
Hit Control + Shift + ESC, and on the Task Manager go to the Processes tab. Make sure you select "Show processes from all users". I sometimes go through this and start googling any weird processes that I don't know off the top of my head. Maybe there's something there that can help you determine the source of the issue.
It'd be anOK start until someone else has a better idea.
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try malwarebytes. Its better than any free antivirus
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On January 22 2013 03:14 rotar wrote:
Have you checked for any weird processes running in the background?
Hit Control + Shift + ESC, and on the Task Manager go to the Processes tab. Make sure you select "Show processes from all users". I sometimes go through this and start googling any weird processes that I don't know off the top of my head. Maybe there's something there that can help you determine the source of the issue.
It'd be anOK start until someone else has a better idea.
Yeah ive done that over and over, im usually pretty good at sniffing out shitty little malware / viruses manually, but this ones got me stumped good.
I'll try malwarebytes now, thanks.
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Still get the issue after quick and full malwarebyte scan. Found 8 issues though.
Any other ideas?
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Did you try running MWB in safe mode?
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No, how would that help it though exactly?
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You may have a rootkit/backdoor virus, google malwarebtyes antriroot kit (its different from their regular software, this program looks for specific things). Hopefully this does get rid of your problem, if not your best bet is go to the malwarebtyes forums as they have professionals that deal with this stuff daily. http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showforum=7
EDIT: also replace avg with microsoft security essentials its better
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That sounds frustrating, but you have already done a lot of solid troubleshooting It is often caused by a background utility or driver overlay, so checking startup apps and using tools like Process Explorer to catch the exact process could really help narrow it down.
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EPT
