Facing this problem: https://www.reddit.com/r/windows/comments/3fi88k/window_stacking_goes_haywire_anyone_else_facing/

I am not using Synergy. Is anyone else facing this issue?

It keeps happening, it seems to be completely random.
Logging out and back in fixes the problem.

Will reply here if I find a solution.

Ive been having this problem to, try disabling 'enable TitleBar Buttons' in the functions tab (It seems to have resolved the issue for me)

I just talked to someone who is having this problem as well and he is not using displayfusion

Just wanted to chime in that I'm seeing the same problem and it stops as soon as I quit DisplayFusion. I'm running a SP3 with two external monitors.
Hoping for a solution soon!

This is still happening, so frustrating... You have like 1000 programs open and then need to logout to fix this annoying bug, just to having it come back a few hours later..

It's never from the first time you boot, just after a while of working it starts happening.
Please let there be a solution soon!

If anyone from displayfusion want to use teamviewer to connect to my PC I can show it, then you see the problem in action, in case you cannot reproduce it over there.

EDIT: When the problem was occuring, I closed displayfusion and the problem was gone. So it's definitely something with DF... After restarting displayfusion, the problem does not occur again... for a while.

Also experiencing the same issue. Simply exiting out of Display Fusion fixes it. Starting it back up will work for a little while until it happens again after some undetermined time. All I really can add is running Firefox, Outlook 2010, and PhpStorm on 3 monitor setup (one on each screen, no surround) is enough to get the bug to show up.
PhpStorm is a java based program if that helps any...

I'm going to add my hat to the pile here. It's made it impossible for me to use DisplayFusion and this is really frustrating.

I've tried everything from disabling hooks to numerous other diagnostic tests with no success.

Three monitors, nVidia video card. Seems to occur more when there are a lot of tabs involved, such as with Firefox and Chrome being open.

Closing DF causes the issue to go away completely, and restarting DF allows it to work for a short time, them start to fail again.

In testing, I decided to just flip between windows with the DF task bar on the right monitor and fir the first three tries, it always started the problem after nine swaps. Then it started having problems after seven, then five. Was most commonly after an odd number of window changes.

In testing while writing this, I have determined that it appears to be fully associated with Multi Monitor Taskbar on my system. When that feature is off, the issue does not occur. Turn it on and the issue can be caused within ten window changes.

And while a lack of evidence is not evidence of a lack, I changed "Window preview" from "Disable Preview, Show tooltip" to "Windows Default Style" and I have not been successful at causing the Z-Order problem since. But if I change it back to show tooltip and get a tooltip or three on hover, it starts to occur again. If this happiness persists, then there is more of a lead and a suitable workaround for me and maybe others.

Now I'm going to stop abusing my mouse with all these clicks. I'll update to let folks know if this workaround continues to work for me.

End result: Distinct difference between the Windows Previews mode. Happens more easily with them in off, but still happens otherwise.

It does appear to be a very finicky bug to reproduce though. I noticed when trying to set up for the video that, for example, sometimes when clicking on Chrome in the background the DF taskbar would not recognize that Chrome was active and when clicking back to the other window using the taskbar, it would minimize the other window instead because the DF taskbar thought it was still active.

Even when I thought I had it reproducible consistently, the video took some time to trigger it.

Does it require all the windows to be maximized or normal:
No. It will happen in cases where a maximized window will not come to the front, but it will also have cases where two normal windows will not trigger z order correctly.

The first video attached shows how finicky it is. The second video shows how easy it can be to trigger sometimes.

The proliferation of window swapping is not necessary either. It's just a method by which to increase the chances of it happening.

Progress!

I love progress. Maybe the Windows update that may happen Soon™ will remedy it. Maybe not. Workarounds are good, though I'm still having to perform them about once every three minutes.

Now I need to go find or make a thread regarding the fact that having the DF taskbar pull things on the other windows off the main Windows 10 taskbar also removes those things from Alt-Tab cycles. O.o

Appears to be related to hiding the windows from Explorer's normal taskbar, which means that either Windows 10 made it a pain to programmatically perform that action in a segregated manner, or changed it and the new way is not used yet.

In the former, I can foresee lots of fun trying to kludge around Windows' "undocumented feature". Sadly may have to involve hooking into the task-switching handler directly to re-populate it.

Any news on this? I notice when restarting dispayfusion, the problem is resolved, but on 1 of my screens, for some reason, the windows get messed up. When dragging the window, it keeps showing the previous location, something like this: https://i-msdn.sec.s-msft.com/dynimg/IC405533.png

Except that the 'lag' remains visible, and it happens only on 1 screen (4k, displayport) after restarting displayfusion. Only option to get normal functionality again is logout or reboot.

This is a very strange issue.

Unfortunately now seeing the issue continuing to occur on 10586.

It looks possible, though not with any solid definite, that the issue is caused or contributed to by hovering over a task button on a DF taskbar and getting the pop-up window there and/or the fade of other windows than the one you are hovering over.

Any news? It's still happening
Only after restarting displayfusion it's fixed again.

Interesting you say PHPstorm... I am also using this, and it seems to happen quite a lot when using this program. I'm not even sure if it ever happened if PHPstorm is not opened.

I'm pretty sure that PHPstorm is one of the programs that triggers this problem. Been using the PC all day without any issue, 10 minutes into PHPstorm usage, the problem happened.
I also have my taskbar vertically on the left.

I dont use this phpstorm app and I experience it. I have the taskbar on rightside though so I guess that is one "issue".

I would love it if this forum alerted me to responses. Testing now, and based on what I've observed, I think you have the right idea. It does seem very much to be linked to displaying tooltips. I have one possible other trigger that I will investigate separately. Standby for more information.

Mind you i have seen the issue occur with tooltips on the DF taskbar with one bar on the right of a screen and one at the bottom of another screen.

Trying now.

Thank you for the update on the account.

The computer was in a state where the issue was reliably reproduced with little effort by showing the popup tip at all or by doing numerous window swaps using the taskbar.

As of thus far, with two test sets:
Engaging Aero Peek (Move mouse to corner) caused the issue to start occurring shortly thereafter.
On the second test (Still in progress), without Aero Peek being activated at any point, it has not reproduced the unwanted effect. While it may be too early to claim success, I do have to agree that the issue rears its head based on the interaction of the popup tips as I can reliably trigger it with popup tips, and apparently Aero Peek as well.

Had no issues so far after setting everthing like this. Hopefully it lasts!

Confirmed does NOT occur thus far unless the Show Desktop fucntion is used.

Beta testing the beta.

Trying now

Corrected on the beta with the settings indicated, including when the show-desktop hover is used.

What if we don't have displayFusion, and have never even used it, but are still having the same problem?

There may be an answer hidden in this thread somewhere, but I got lost in the mire of DF related discussion...

.....................

Quick notice: In my case, it seems to be isolated to, or directly related to chrome. When I have chrome open it takes priority and nothing else that I click on in the task bar will come to the front. However, it seems other programs do not have the same problem. If chrome is not open(or just minimized), other programs that I click on come to the front of each other without a problem.

I hope that detail helps...

Well, the good news is that the post directly above yours is the "Answer", but not the solution. The solution is for Microsoft to fix it. It appears to be based on a resource failure of some sort, but until Microsoft fixes it, any program that triggers to the front may trigger it.

The workaround in that case is to find which program in your specific situation is triggering the bug. Won't be Chrome itself, so focus on utility programs that fiddle with Windows stuff. I think when searching for the symptoms I found at least three or so programs that were known to trigger the bug.

I have had this problem for some time but I have my task bars at the bottom. It seems to particularly affect Chrome and a temporary work round I have found is to remove the Chrome Task bar icon and replace it.

An example currently, I am typing this in Chrome, I move a open file window over and clicking on the chrome toolbar regains focus, do the same with a powerpoint presentation and it doesn't

I have DF Pro. 7.3.4
Windows 10 Pro Version 1511

Any help appreciated

No it's not Keith

It is not Chrome in particular. There were a number of applications that were no longer coming to the foreground. I just can't figure out the common link between these applications and why it's happening only to those.

Hi.

I don't think I use display fusion, but found this discussion because of the same problem. I just made it begin to happen, though it's intermittent, but gets worse until the point where I cannot make a window come to the front.

First I restarted the system and all windows behaved properly. Then I went into the display-multitasking tab in "settings" and turned on the "snap windows" feature, that I can't really figure out. Then I turned it off again because I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to do. The windows were still behaving normally. Then I put the computer to sleep, and when I woke it up, the windows started acting strangely. It will get worse as time goes on, and I will restart and everything will be ok.

It's probably repeatable, because it was once when I was fiddling around with the Windows 10 settings that this happened for the first time. For the above trial, the ONLY thing I did was to go into the multitasking tab, then put the computer to sleep. On waking it up, the problem began.

Restarting the system clears it, as some others in this forum have said that logging out and in again clears it.

I hope this is helpful.

Lori

That is something you'll want to figure out. If you use DisplayFusion, then this place - which is the DisplayFusion support forums - can help you figure out how to make DisplayFusion stop triggering the Windows 10 bug that is causing the issue.

If you don't have DisplayFusion, then there is nothing that anybody on this forum can do to help with a bug in Windows 10 that is being triggered by something other than DisplayFusion other than to say "It's a Windows 10 bug that something is triggering" and advise you to find out what is triggering it and find help from that product's support team.

Hi, any update to this issue as it relates to DF users? A fix even?

Cheers,
Chris

Hi - I don't know if this helps; it might not be related but I have had problems with Windows 10 Pro (x64) receiving focus on two separate computers, one with DF and one which has never run it. I suspect as you seem to be saying that underlying a lot of these or a broader Windows bug but I can't find much on any other forum. I've never had these issues on Win 7 through 8.1.

Cool man, thanks.

I have two screens and same issue. I tried what was suggested in post #35 but it did not really work until I disabled Start Button (Multi-Monitor Taskbar --> Start Button --> Disabled). For two days now I can see all thumbnails when I hoover or click the mouse on DF taskbar so that issue seams to be gone. As soon as i enable Multi-Monitor Taskbar --> Start Button issue is back.

What is strange now is behaviour of Start Screen. I did manage to get both Start Screens (left and right click or Windows key and Windows key + x) to appear on primary desktop, at least for now. Way to achieve that was to toggle Multi-Monitor Taskbar --> Start Button --> left/right/automatic/disabled until it finally appeared where I want it. Interesting was that Start Screen would stay on its position even after I exit DF.

I have been experiencing it too. I'm not entirely sure that it is a Windows 10 problem, as I've never experienced it on my laptop, which doesn't run DF. On my main system, it happens randomly and closing out DF then restarting it always clears it up, making me believe more it's something either inside DF, or some API from Win10 that isn't playing nice with DF.

Hi Jamie,

Saying "It's an <XYZ Program> problem" refers to whose code is broken. In this case, the Windows 10 code is broken. When any other program makes topmost calls through the Windows GUI APIs, Windows 10 eventually starts to mangle the z order (which it should not do).

If the programs that trigger it were doing something they're not supposed to do, it would be a problem with those programs. However programs like DIsplayFusion are using the API like they are supposed to and Windows is mucking about with the end results after time.

Sadly, what this means is that the programs in question can't use the broken API functionality without it causing a problem. So their workaround is to stop using it, even if that takes away features.

I have this problem too. As far as I can tell I'm not running DisplayFusion (though would love someone to tell me how I could check that, because if i am running it, I'll keep an eye on this page for answers).

It's a work PC, so not set up by me.

Rebooting fixes it for a short while. Chrome seems worse than most windows. Overall, Windows 10 has been quite painless. But this hopeless inability to switch between windows is making me hanker for the days of DOS.

Hi,

Just like some other people, I do not believe I have "display Fusion" installed but I do experience this same issue.

Is there a workaround? nothing yet?

thanks

This is no longer a problem. At least on my computers.

I had this problem and it was driving me mad. I stopped using Edge and removed from the taskbar. It was solved immediately.

I thought this was fixed without having to do the hack earlier in this post. Turns out it's not, the problem only occurs when the taskbar is vertical.

Still having this issue currently. Latest DisplayFusion version (8.1.2), vertical taskbars, played around with all Advanced Settings>Troubleshooting options I could find. This thread hasn't been mentioned since December of 2016.

Any new workarounds developed that I may be missing?

Thanks.

I did try it, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on the issue. I've also tried it in combination with a number of the "Advanced Settings" as well, but with no success.

Thanks for the quick replies! The support team I was emailing back and forth with just found the solution that worked for my computer.

In case it helps anyone else:

Open DisplayFusion's Settings > Advance Settings > search for "SetWndowPos: Disallow Topmost Calls" > double click "TopMost will never be allowed" > click Ok > hit Apply.

You'll need to completely restart DisplayFusion (not just hit Apply like most settings) and it should fix it.

Thank you and your awesome support team, got email replies back in seconds, major kudos.

This thread is still helpful. Just saved myself from months worth of headaches with that SetWndowPos option.

Thanks for existing !

This is back again with a vengeance. The advanced setting does not solve it. Also, applications like "your phone" display on multiple taskbars rather than only on the one it's open on.

I can reproduce it with Spotify. It's stuck on top of all windows.

I've fixed it by unchecking "Enable TitleBar Buttons". The SetWindowPos fix just didn't work.

Same problem here. Being dragging this shit for like 20+ versions of Windows 10, and now for every Windows 11 version.
"SetWindowPos" and unchecking "Enable TitleBar Buttons" settings doesn't fix it.
Any ideas to try?

Any help on this issue?

Here it goes.

I am using multimonitor taskbar, but horizontal bottom, not vertical. Will try disabling it and using the Windows one. In a different machine, using multimonitor taskbars on 2 secondary monitors I never had this problem.

Nah, disabling multimonitor taskbars didn't help the issue.

Thank you. Luckily, it happened just after I cleaned the log file: had to forcibly remove the "always on top" state for TOPAZ Video AI, Tixati and Total Commander... I already have a key Combination in Functions for that (Alt + Ctrl + T) but it gets annoying being forced to use it all the time.

A bruteforced "don't use 'Always on Top', EVER" setting for Windows would work for me, because I don't want it to be used.

Damn it.

It happens without DisplayFusion too.

Isn't there any way to tell stupid Windows "do NOT set "Always on top" for ANY window, EVER"?

Debugging running programs one by one I finally found the culprit. It was this mouse gestures software I've been using since forever: https://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/

Uninstalled and reinstalled it and now there is no more "Always on top" random behavior.

Thank god. This was driving me crazy.