Why does the task pictogram flashes instead of opening the program?

Posted by fredley on Super User See other posts from Super User or by fredley
Published on 2011-01-22T13:16:54Z Indexed on 2012/07/02 3:18 UTC
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windows-7

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taskbar

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focus

Sometimes, when I select a click a program on the Windows 7 taskbar it won't appear (it doesn't gain focus and remains behind other open windows), and the icon will flash and turn orange. This happens reasonably frequently, and I've had it happen on two separate Windows installs on different machines. It just happened now and the only programs I have with active windows are Chrome, WMP and Explorer (2). It happened when I clicked Explorer.

Once this has happened to one window, it affects all windows, and the only way I can switch between programs is by finding the window manually or using Windows+Tab. The only way I've come across to get the computer to snap out of this annoying behaviour is to restart the machine. Is there a way of stopping it?

Edit
Here's a video of it happening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P12OxKK0kM4

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