If only the one application is running (Word or whatever) and if you can sit there, do nothing, do not touch the keyboard or anything and the window changes by itself to inactive, you may still have a virus.

Do you have a mouse or is Outlook checking for email in the system tray? On my machine (not XP), if I go to my email checking tool to check, then my active window becomes inactive. So you want to see if anything else is becoming active when this is happening.

... Thinkpads_User

If your mouse also drifts to a corner of the screen, disable your trackpad / jkey.

Thank you for all of the advice.   It has been a difficult few days.

I ran Malwarebytes and it found a few things which it fixed.

I then ran Spybot and it found a lot of cookies and stuff, but nothing stood out.

I then loaded AVG Free and decided to update to the full version.

The problem with windows becoming inactive persisted erratically and some other strange behaviour occurred, such as the PC booting to a frozen desktop, Recently used programs disappearing off the Start Menu, loss of internet etc.

Of particular note was that the McAfee shield was appearing in my open programs list when I'd 'ALT+TAB' my way around my open tasks, yet I didn't have McAffee running.

The McAfee shield was also still in the system tray but sometimes I could access it, other times clicking on it would do nothing and even hovering the mouse would not show the usual text box saying what it is.

I'm thinking perhaps McAfee was the program taking control away from my active window but it didn't seem to be actually doing anything at the time.  In past times if it was updating it would just do that in the background and tell me afterwards.

After calling AVG they suggested I remove my McAfee antivirus due to conflicts, which I attempted to do, though it is not easy to fully get rid of it, it seems.

The 'Uninstall' from the Programs menu did not work, I downloaded their removal tool and it stalled permanently at 'removing VS', I also had patchy success using Control Panel Add/Remove Programs.

At the moment I have "deactivated" McAfee via theweb site, and it tells me it will do so in 6 days.

So I'll wait out the expiry of 6 days and see how life goes with just AVG in control.  :-)

Thanks again.

Regards

Glen

Hi Athiest

Thank you for those detailed suggestions.

So far, touch wood, things have stabilised so I will just carry on for the moment and hope the problem does not return.  :-)

You asked, I use a Logitech mouse (SetPoint I think is the software) on a Dell Desktop.   I've had the mouse for years.

I'll keep in touch.

Thanks
Regards
Glen

I've requested that this question be deleted for the following reason:

Not enough information to confirm an answer.

Sorry for the delay in replying.

Following on from my above comments the problem has virtually ceased.   It has occurred maybe a handful of times in the past several weeks so I am happy that replacing McAffee with AVG seems to have helped.

I still see the McAffee shield in the system tray (although hovering over it displays no text box) and occasionally it will appear when I am ALT-TABing around (although inaccessible) so it does not cause me any serious worry.

Thank you for your advice.

Follow the link below, after the instructions previously above on removing McAfee

December next, if and when you'r year's free AVG runs out (there will be a version change), you have two options
1 - go with another 1 year AV, e.g. Bitdefender
2 - purchase an internet security suite.
In either case, or with a new version of AVG, I'd recommend un-installing all the previous anti-virus products, (after which you'll see a performance improvement) before reinstalling one you have already downloaded or have the purchased media for.
I am not recommending now which AV product to go for, as the threat landscape will change because of IPv6 making more systems visible (rather than hidden behind natted IPy4.

While there's no end to 1 year free trials from different vendors, AV programs are often difficult to cleanly remove (remember there's an array of nasties trying to disable them) so the hooks put into intercept file access by each of the programs, called handlers, can cause stability and performance problems.  This is compounded by uninstall from the control panel often being flaky with AV programs.  McAfee have a septate removal tool MCPR.

Rather than waiting until December remove McAfee now.

See (and print) the instructions on removing McAfee at
http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?lc=1033&id=TS101331

There is a small chance that the submarining mcafee dialogue is preventing access to an infected file, which consequentially AVG can't attempt to clean.  When Mcafee is uninstalled, fire up Malwarebytes so as to update it, then rather than scan in normal mode, reboot to safe mode and do a full scan.

Thank you, that is good advice, which I will have ago at.

By the way, the AVG version I have is one I paid for.

Good.  The paid AVG protects you from much more types of infection than the free version.  No problem sticking with AVG.

Hi Athiest

I finally got back to this.   Sorry it took a while.

I followed your two lots of instructions and I think I've finally rid myself of McAfee.   The 'shield' has finally gone from the system tray.

I'd be fairly confident it was the culprit that was still (occasionally by that stage) stealing my active window.

As I've already got a paid version of AVG I will run a full scan of that in SafeMode (rather than Malwarebytes) and see if it comes up with anything.

Thanks again.

Glen,
Bear in mind that AVG and Malwarebytes look at different things.  Malwarebytes is designed to go after spyware, although it does remove some viruses.  AVG is designed to go after viruses although it does remove some spyware (and in your case, provides a firewall.)
There isn't a paid version of any software that removes all malware.  Believe me, I'd buy stock in that company if one did.  Your best bet is to attack your problem with multiple software solutions for malware removal.
Good luck!
Panda

Thanks BadPanda I will take your advice too.   :-)

I'm in the process of running AVG in normal Windows mode.  I tried in Safe Mode but couldn't get it going properly.

Avast (free version) can be installed in Compatibility Mode and work with AVG.  Let it update, go into the Scan section and select Boot Scan.  Change the heuristics to their highest settings and reboot your computer.
You'll get a pre-normal mode scan that works wonders.
Panda

Thanks again BadPanda.   In the end the problem disappeared so I did not need to go any further but I will keep your advice for future reference if needed.