Active window keeps making itself inactive, device becomes unusable without a restart

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Level 1

4 points

Active window keeps making itself inactive, device becomes unusable without a restart

I'm running 26.2 on my M4 MacBook Pro and recently started seeing an issue that (so far) I can't fix without a restart. After working fine for days at a time, it will go into a mode where the front-most, active window instantly (tenths of a second, maybe a second at most sometimes) moves into the background and is inactive. Clicking on the window brings it to the front again, but then it immediately goes into the background again, rinse and repeat. A restart fixes the issue until it strikes again. This seems to affect multiple different applications (certainly Safari and Outlook).

I've tried searching but nothing seems to come up in other threads here. Anybody got a clue what's happening?

Posted on Feb 4, 2026 7:53 AM

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Answer 1

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Justin-T64 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 3, 2026 7:27 AM in response to Justin-T64

Closing the loop on this, I finally had it happen again and decided to check Activity Monitor. There was a Logitech Mouse process that wasn't responding, so I force-quit it. I do have and currently use a Logitech G305 Mouse so there is normally a process in the background, but there's clearly a propensity for it to cause a problem occasionally (this time it happened immediately on waking the machine from sleep).

Immediately that process was ended the abnormal behavior stopped.

So, culprit found. Thanks to @steve626 and @KiltedTim for responding.

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Answer 2

steve626

Level 6

15,077 points

Mar 3, 2026 5:24 PM in response to Buzzhead61

Buzzhead61 wrote:

This started happening on my MacBook Pro today, Tahoe 26.3. I can launch an app from the Dock but if I try to go to the Menu and click Safari, for example, I'll click on Safari but the dropdown selection immediately closes. If an operation I choose requires a password, I'll try typing in the password and the first character will take then it will no longer accept any typing.

I ended up having to erase the HD, reinstall Tahoe, then restore from Time Machine previous to today's backup. Once my MacBook Pro was ready, everything worked fine, except FortiClient. I reinstalled FortiClient, then connected to my organization and once I did that, the issue started again. I think it's FortiClient but why it started today, I have no idea. Everything was working fine the first hour I was connected then BOOM!

Now back to erasing, reinstalling, and restoring. HELP!

It sounds like you have some indication that Forticlient either needs updating for Tahoe compatibility, or, if you are using the latest version, that software suite (which includes a wide swath of network security and VPN, antivirus and so forth) includes many components any or all of which may be conflicting with the MacOS internal elements that perform similar functionality. When two similar or incompatible processes collide, it CAN result in freezes and other anomalies. This is why such antivirus and network security tools are widely NOT recommended for us by readers of Apple Discussions.

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Answer 3

Mar 3, 2026 4:59 PM in response to Justin-T64

This started happening on my MacBook Pro today, Tahoe 26.3. I can launch an app from the Dock but if I try to go to the Menu and click Safari, for example, I'll click on Safari but the dropdown selection immediately closes. If an operation I choose requires a password, I'll try typing in the password and the first character will take then it will no longer accept any typing.

I ended up having to erase the HD, reinstall Tahoe, then restore from Time Machine previous to today's backup. Once my MacBook Pro was ready, everything worked fine, except FortiClient. I reinstalled FortiClient, then connected to my organization and once I did that, the issue started again. I think it's FortiClient but why it started today, I have no idea. Everything was working fine the first hour I was connected then BOOM!

Now back to erasing, reinstalling, and restoring. HELP!

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Answer 4

Mar 4, 2026 9:40 AM in response to steve626

After restoring my system again last night (thank goodness for regular Time Machine backups), I removed the enterprise version of FortiClient and used the one from the App Store. It's working perfectly!

Case closed for me.

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Answer 5

steve626

Level 6

15,077 points

Feb 4, 2026 9:01 AM in response to Justin-T64

You have some what appears to be outdated software:

User Internet Plug-ins:

ClearPassOnGuardWebAgentPlugin: 6.11.10.260785 (Aruba Networks, Inc - installed 2025-02-19)

VPNs:

[Loaded] NordLynx - /Applications/NordVPN.app

[Loaded] OpenVPNTunnel - /Applications/NordVPN.app

NordVPNLauncher (App Store - installed 2025-02-26)

February 2025 was before Tahoe was introduced. I don't know if these are compatible with Tahoe.

Also, NordVPN is a questionable item to have as VPNs can block or interfere with normal Mac operations. They certainly slow down internet activity and I don't know if NordVPN might be causing such a freeze. I would completely uninstall it to test. (You can always reinstall later but I would not activate or install any VPN except one configured by and provided by an employer for their private/secure network access.)

Aruba's Clear Pass OnGuard tool is some sort of network security and anti-virus tool. Also questionable for use under MacOS. Such tools can interfere with normal Mac operations and possibly cause freezes. I would also uninstall it completely and test.

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