I've come across a new issue for me with my Sims 3 game. While playing the game will sometimes start to minimize itself, every other minute. It will simply disappear to my desktop and I have to click the icon in the bottom to return to it (Notice: not restart the game, just simply return to the game).

What I have done so far:
I have all EP's and two Stuff Packs. I am patched.
I have updated my graphic drivers, tried the game without any custom content or mods, deleted the cache's a bunch of times, tried lower graphic settings, made sure no other program (at least not in my control) is running in the background. My computer is definitely enough to handle Sims 3 and I've runned the game before, for two years, without this problem. I reinstalled my computer and thereby my Sims 3 game a couple of weeks ago.

Another member had this problem a while back, I found in the archive. But though my English is ok, my computer-English is not. He talked about Windows Script Host and believed that when two instances of this (HKCU and HKLM) are running together it will cause this minimizing. But I do not understand this. Where are this Windows Script Host and if those instances are making this happen - where are they, how do I and is it ok to turn one of them off?

I thought about asking the person in the thread more about what he did to solve his problem, but he hadn't been active since May. That's why I'm turning to you.
Here is the thread: http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...ight=minimizing

Any help or advice is most welcome and thank you in advance!

Are you playing in fullscreen or windowed mode? And since you mentioned the other thread, confirmed virus/spyware/trojan - free?

There are certain Security and Antivirus programs that does this when they become active. Most likely culprit past times I come across this issue have cited AVG and it happens during the AVG updates.
What Firewall and Antivirus programs do you have?

You can ignore that HLKM and HKCU bits - they are not relevant.

Since i recently reinstalled my computer because of a virus I'm pretty sure it's clean. I had Norton up until a few days ago. When scanning it found nothing wrong. I removed Norton since I though that it was the cause - that it "took over" the screen. But the problem remained. Now I'm only using Ad-aware, but I've downloaded that after the problem appeared.

Oh, and I play in full screen mode.

In windowed mode it seems to work fine, but I dislike windowed mode. It's so tiny. Is there anyway to make windowed mode almost fullscreen? Then I could settle for windowed mode and my problem would be irrelevant

You need to find out what it is that is trying to give you a notification. Are you getting any pop-ups or system messages? The reason it is minimising is because something (Windows or a program) is trying to grab your attention.

Check the settings on Ad-Aware- I've not used that for about 5 years, does it have a quiet/ gaming mode? Also check your windows and program update settings.

To make the windowed mode larger, you'd have to change the in-game resolution to match your monitor resolution.

Thank you for the advice about the resolution! This is a good option that will do for now, but I do want to find out what's the problem. I do not believe it to be Ad-Aware; I downloaded that program after the game started acting weird. There are never any pop-ups or notifications, just my plain desktop. I'll check out the update settings if only I can find out where to look for them.

Ad-aware is just an in-browser thing to disable Advertisements, right? It is not a fullfledged Antivirus.

So since you no longer have Norton or an Antivirus & Firewall program, how do you know this is not another infection?

Last time I used it, it was just an adware remover, but the site does say antivirus now.

This problem appeared when I had Norton installed. I made a bunch of scans and it would find nothing but cookies. I tried to uninstall Norton since I thought that it was the cause but with or without it it made no difference.

I've noticed that whenever I turn off or restart my computer there is a protest saying that "a program is still running" and asking me if I want to force it to close. There are no name on this program and it will always turn itself off, without my interference, a few seconds later. This was never there before. Could it have something to do with my problem?

Have you tried tweaking the Startup Applications list to stop Norton from being launched at Startup, if you already have an alternative AV utility? And take this chance to remove any deadwood, too.
You can do this by typing "msconfig" at the Run input strip after clicking the Start button.
These website maintains a database of Applications if you need to verify whether it is safe to be removed.
- http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
- http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_search.php

General rule of thumb is to have Microsoft Services and your AV and Firewall programs, and that's it.
Anything extra is a personal choice - for things you used most often and want the convenience of autostartup, for instance. But keeping it streamlined also means faster boot up times.

You can also take this chance to clean up Registry as well, by using a utility like CCleaner. Which also gives you the option to get at that msconfig dialog in one of its options.

I do not have Norton installed. My Norton was only a trial about to expire, so when I believed it to be the cause of the minimizing I uninstalled it and it made no difference. So Norton can not be the cause of this. Since I last wrote I have started to get "pop-up's" appear on my desktop. Even when I'm not on the internet. They are from different sites that I have NEVER visited. I've downloaded anti-virus programs like AVG and avast! but they can not find something wrong or infected.

I believe I might have to reinstall my whole computer if this continues.
Can someone point me in the direction of how to be able to save my current neigbourhood and how to make sure I can use it once I've reinstalled my computer and Sims 3 game. When I've previously reinstalled them my neighbourhood have become unplayable and I really do not want to loose this town