Dialog boxes and windows won't move partially off-screen

I've got a very annoying problem that started in Windows XP Pro about a week ago: when I try to move any open dialog box or window partially off-screen (right, left, up, or down), it "bounces" right back into full view so that the whole dialog box is visible and stays in the foreground. In other words, I can't move it out of the way as I always used to be able to do. This happens in Windows, IE6, Outlook Express, Word, and any other application I try. I'm using the standard Windows XP view with an 800 x 600 screen resolution.

As an example, when I try to move the Regedit window out of the way temporarily so I can view or copy the text of a Help and Support item or instructions on a Web page, the window refuses to stay where I put it -- it always pops right back so that the whole thing is visible, edge-to-edge, top-to-bottom, and covers up the instructions I am trying to read or copy. I can resize a window to make it smaller, but with a dialog box that can't be resized, this prevents me from, say, following the instructions covered by the dialog box or typing or pasting data into Regedit or the dialog box.

Over the past week I've installed a few Microsoft updates. Could one of these have caused the annoying behavior? Is there a setting I can change to stop it?

Thank you for any help.

Frank D

 

Have you tried moving them using the keyboard instead of the mouse? If that works, then perhaps it's a mouse setting of some sort (even if it's not a mouse setting, if it works you can use it until somebody comes along with the fix).

The procedure for using the keyboard to move a window:
1. Press Alt and spacbar
2. Press the down arrow key once to select "Restore," press Enter
3. Pres Alt and spacebar again
4. Press the down arrow key to move down to "Move," press enter
5. Use the arrow keys to move the window
6. When it's in the position you want, press Enter

Try this with the cursor out of view, off the screen at the bottom to, hopefully, keep the cursor position from having anything to do with repositioning the windows.

If that works, look in Control Panel>Mouse for any settings that might affect windows placements.

 

another avenue if that doesn't solve the problem.

Welcome to the forum.

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by third-party software
MS KB 827315
From: http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=31535

Please read the articles and follow the directions there. And please let us know if you need more help with any part.

 

Hello Frank,

If you don't find a setting that solves this:

One way you can find out if this is the case - not for sure because some other change such as a 3rd party app or you changing a setting could have done it - is to do a System Restore previous to the MS updates.

If that solves the problem and you can stay there - then add the MS updates one at a time with SR points in between and see which one did it.

Regards - Charles

EDIT: Be aware that any program installed since that prior SR point will have to be reinstalled. Any other new file(s) that you have other than programs - if you move them to the My Documents folder - SR will leave alone. Text (.txt) and .doc files are left alone in any case so don't worry about them.

 

In XP you can't force a dialog box off screen. You can drag any other window halfway off the screen, but only through the top or two sides. If you want to make it "disappear" you have to drag it to the bottom, through the toolbar.

The "snap back" you describe makes me think of a malware interference. The only other thing I can think of is do you have "Dragging and Dropping" enabled in Control Panel> Taskbar & Start Menu> Start Menu tab> Customize> advanced tick "enable dragging & dropping" ??

Johanna

 

A sudden flash of inspiration...I went to Control Panel>Mouse and turned on "Click Lock." I moved a window, which requires holding down the mouse button long enough to engage the lock. When I clicked again to let go of the window, all was well but when I clicked on another window to bring it forward, the repositioned window snapped back to its original position. For some unknown reason, it only did it once but it does indicate that a malfunctioning Click Lock may be the culprit.

So look in the mouse controls and if Click Lock is enabled, disable it and if disabled, enable it. Move some windows around and if the problem is still there, go back and enable/disable it. Toggling off and on sometimes corrects glitches.

 

Solution to "Dialog boxes and windows won't move partially off-screen "

To all: I have to apologize for believing this problem was with Windows. It wasn't. It was being caused by a TSR program, WinSize, that I installed about two weeks ago and forgot about. It caused the undesirable behavior and turning it off solved the problem.

WinSize is "A taskbar tray application for maintaining window positions. . . . will automatically apply these positions whenever the windows you have selected are moved or resized from their original place - It will even remember the View settings you have chosen (Large icons, small icons, details, list) . . ."

The options that I set were just to control folder window size and icon type. I never even saw the ones to keep windows or dialog boxes on-screen. Those were set by default and produced the unexpected side-effect. I have turned off the program's "pushing" options and the problem has disappeared. It performs its other tasks well.

I ran Spybot and Ad-Aware, prompted by Johanna's suggestion, but they found only Alexa and a couple of data miners. I was all set to do a System Restore as suggested by Charles when I began to think of which programs I had installed over the last two weeks. Sparrow hit it on the head with the caution about 3d party software. I would have tried Miz's last suggestion about the mouse click lock, but I never got that far.

Again, I apologize for the false alarm and the wasted bandwitdth. I should have done more testing before posting. Thank you all for your help!!! It's a great community.

Frank

 

Hi Frank,

No problem, we all learn everytime when we go thru an exercise like this.

Regards - Charles