# Windows XP - Disappearing Windows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-disappearing-windows/333227 "2005-11-29T17:21:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StarsApart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@StarsApart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarsApart)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-disappearing-windows/333227/1 "2005-11-29T17:21:22Z")
I read the sticky and didn’t see anything, so… I have a PC running XP Home with Service Pack 1. Lately, I’ve been having a lot of problems with windows just up and disappearing on me. It mostly happens with browser windows (I use Firefox), but just this morning it’s happened with Photoshop. I’ll switch to another window by clicking on it in the taskbar, and the one I was on before goes missing from my taskbar. Sometimes if I minimize or close the window I switched to, it reappears in the taskbar, but not always. Sometimes it’s totally gone. Sometimes it reappears a couple days later completely out of the blue. Lately it’s been happening a lot more often than it used to (I’ve had this computer for a year and this has been going on almost the whole time, just very occasionally, except for today). It’s happened to me several times today. But my computer seems totally fine otherwise. I’ve run Spybot, AdAware, and Microsoft AntiSpyware just in case and they don’t come up with anything. So, is it a memory thing? Or sumpin’ else? ---
**Author:** ![Arien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arien)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-disappearing-windows/333227/2 "2005-11-29T20:18:11Z")
I don’t know what causes it, but if it’s like what happens to me sometimes, the missing windows are still running and will appear under applications in the task manager. Then just click on the program and click “switch to”. ---
**Author:** ![Southessex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Southessex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southessex)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-disappearing-windows/333227/3 "2005-11-29T22:13:39Z")
I can’t speak for Photoshop, but it’s a “known bug” with Firefox. The easiest “workaround” for this is to press ALT+TAB to cycle through your running applications until “Mozilla Firefox” is highlighted, at which point the window will be activated and the taskbar tab will come back. (Although Firefox was mentioned in my example, ALT+TAB works for any program). Sadly, the Firefox bug isn’t fixed in the new 1.5 version due out this week. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-disappearing-windows/333227/4 "2005-11-29T22:33:02Z")
Run a virus scanner or two. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-disappearing-windows/333227/5 "2005-11-29T22:52:10Z")
> [@Southessex](#): > > I can’t speak for Photoshop, but it’s a “known bug” with Firefox. The easiest “workaround” for this is to press ALT+TAB to cycle through your running applications until “Mozilla Firefox” is highlighted, at which point the window will be activated and the taskbar tab will come back. (Although Firefox was mentioned in my example, ALT+TAB works for any program). > > Sadly, the Firefox bug isn’t fixed in the new 1.5 version due out this week. ☹ Weird. I’m running Firefox on XP and haven’t experienced this problem. Also use Maxthon, Opera and Netscape. Only Netscape is a problem, since the latest update it crashes regularly. ---
**Author:** ![StarsApart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@StarsApart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarsApart)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-disappearing-windows/333227/6 "2005-11-30T03:34:17Z")
> [@Southessex](#): > > I can’t speak for Photoshop, but it’s a “known bug” with Firefox. The easiest “workaround” for this is to press ALT+TAB to cycle through your running applications until “Mozilla Firefox” is highlighted, at which point the window will be activated and the taskbar tab will come back. (Although Firefox was mentioned in my example, ALT+TAB works for any program). > > Sadly, the Firefox bug isn’t fixed in the new 1.5 version due out this week. ☹ Darn, I was hoping it could be fixed. Oh, well–I’ll try ALT-TAB next time it happens. Thank you! (And thanks for the mention about the new version–I didn’t know there was one coming out. 🙂 ) **Satasha** , the virus scan didn’t find anything, so I’m guessing it’s just the Firefox bug. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-disappearing-windows/333227/7 "2005-11-30T04:37:06Z")
It’s a Firefox bug. Happens to me if I am downloading videos, when the download is complete and the video player launches, the FF window may go poof and disapear. ---
**Author:** ![Southessex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Southessex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southessex)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-disappearing-windows/333227/8 "2005-11-30T05:54:48Z")
BTW (just so you know), the proper ALT+TAB procedure is to hold down the ALT key and then press TAB once (this will bring up a box with all your running applications). Whilst keeping ALT pressed down, keep pressing the TAB key until the application you want is highlighted; once this is done, release both the ALT and the TAB keys to go to the application you just restored. Also, Firefox 1.5 is now available for download from the main FF site.