Why do my games minimize when i play them?

a few weeks ago I was playing a game and it just minimized for no reason. I found out that my PSU went bad so I just got the new one yesterday. Apparently that didnt do the trick, not even 10 seconds into playing a game with the new PSU the stupid thing minimized, so what i did was reset all the graphics settings in my catalyst control center to defaults cause i though i was pushing the card too hard, but it still didnt work, anyone have any idea what the deal is.

Sounds like maybe a commonly used key such as an arrow key somehow got bound to the command to "alt+tab". Just a thought, but it doesnt sound like a hardware issue at all. Also, when you say minimize im assuming you just get kicked back to windows but the game is still running, thus, you can click back into it.

yeah i goto windows and have to click on the game title in the task bar to bring it back up. But the thing is i dont hit any keys when it does it, and it has a pattern it will minimize, ill reopen it then 5 seconds later it will minimize then start back up on its own and it does it about every 10-15 min.

Are you using shift alot in the game? Pressing it 5 times in a row brings up the Sticky Keys options, just disable it.

i dont use any buttons, i just use a mouse or an analog gamepad. Could it have something to do with my ATI catalyst drivers.

Sounds like there is a process running in the background causing this....look into what is running in the background

well theres a problem there because anything in the systems tools and task manager doesnt even work, thats a whole different story, god only knows why those dont work. is there another way to check on what processes are running.

that sounds like a virus or somesort of malware performing operations in the background and causing your game to minimise.
i once had a virus that disabled my taskmanager to prevent me from ending its process.
do a full system scan with an up to date virus scanner

When i load a level in CS:Source, the same thing happens, it minimizes, but all i had to do is click it again...

well i had my dad bring me home 3 virus scanners they use at his work and they cleaned my computer out completely so i know for a fact its not a virus.