Taskbar randomly appears in fullscreen and the game suddenly pauses.

Troubleshooting Unexpected Taskbar Appearances and Game Pauses on Windows 11

If you’re experiencing interruptions while gaming on Windows 11, you’re not alone. Many users report that the taskbar intermittently appears over full-screen applications, causing sudden pauses or disruptions during gameplay. This article aims to shed light on potential causes and provide actionable solutions to resolve these issues.

Understanding the Issue

Users have observed that while playing games or utilizing full-screen applications, the Windows 11 taskbar randomly becomes visible, then quickly disappears. This flickering can be frustrating, especially when it coincides with the game automatically pausing. In some cases, the game appears to minimize or shift focus to the desktop or home screen, rendering peripherals like the keyboard, mouse, and controllers unresponsive for several minutes. A common temporary fix is using the keyboard shortcut Alt+Tab to switch back into the game, but this isn’t an ideal or permanent solution.

Potential Causes

1. Notification and System Alerts: Windows notifications, system messages, or app alerts may momentarily cause the taskbar to appear, especially if they trigger full-screen focus shifts.

2. Background Processes: Certain background applications or updates might interrupt full-screen processes, causing minimization or focus shifts.

3. Corrupted Display or Graphics Drivers: Outdated or incompatible graphics drivers can lead to display glitches, including taskbar flickering and game pauses.

4. Power Management Settings: Power saving modes optimizing hardware performance might interfere with full-screen applications, especially in gaming.

5. Game Compatibility and Settings: Some games may have compatibility issues with Windows 11 or misconfigured settings that cause focus loss.

6. Third-Party Software Conflicts: Overlay tools, screen recording applications, or third-party optimizers can sometimes conflict with display rendering or input detection.

Recommended Solutions

1. Disable Notifications During Gaming
2. Navigate to Settings > System > Notifications & actions.

3. Turn off notifications or configure focus assist to activate automatically during gaming.

4. Update Graphics Drivers

5. Visit your GPU manufacturer’s website (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel).
6. Download and install the latest drivers compatible with Windows 11.

7. Restart your computer after updating.

8. Check for Windows Updates

9. Go to Settings > Windows Update.

10. Download and install all pending updates to ensure system stability.

11. Adjust Power and Performance Settings

12. Access Control