Active Window becomes inactive then back on

We have a fairly new Dell All in one desktop. Here's the info

DellInspiron One 2034 AllInOne Computer 4GB Memory 1TB Hard DriveIO2020T3333BK

Set it up last December and worked great until about a month or so ago.

When you open anything and start working the active window you are in will suddenly go inactive so you can't type or enter any info and then all of a sudden becomes active again. It will do this even if I only have one window open like Firefox or Word.

I read somewhere that it was due to it connecting via the wireless adapter so I moved the router close enough to connect it direct and it still does it. The active window I'm using will actually become inactive and then go back active about every 5 - 10 seconds which makes it impossible to use.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

BTW - do use Advanced System Care Ultimate 7 and have scanned it daily. That does not help. I'm wondering if one of the automatic windows updates changed something. It's Windows 8.1

 

Any system images or restore points available that pre-date installing Advanced System Care? My experience has been that ASC is a very dangerous piece of software.

 

I have been using it on 3 different computers for quite a while with no issues. I know it keeps restore points I can see how far back it goes.

What would you recommend that would do the same sort of thing?

 

It could be worth trying restore points if you have any that go back to pre-tweaking. I don't believe any of these go faster tweakers are safe. They make undocumented changes to registry settings which, if you subsequently have a problem, can defeat all the normal methods of correcting it. My approach is just get an SSD and 4GB+ memory and the system will fly, no tweaking necessary.

 

Food for thought here perhaps?

 

Still not working.

Is this a virus of some sort?

 

What AV software is installed, and have you scanned with it?

 

If the malware scans come back clean we can use Task Manager to see if there is something kicking in every 5-10 secs which may be causing this. But first we need to know whether this is Win 7 or Win 8 you are using.

 

Okay, it's 8.1, sorry 'bout that. Open Task Manager > Performance tab > Open Resource Monitor (at the bottom) and click the CPU column heading. Watch the left column and see if you can spot something kicking in to the top of the list every 5-10 minutes. If you think you can spot it try and note the PID.

 

EDIT - read 5-10 secs, not minutes

 

Try running in Safe Mode for a bit just to see if the problem persists. It won't provide any answers but may rule out some things.