App windows keep being deselected in OS X Mavericks

Question

Level 1

9 points

App windows keep being deselected in OS X Mavericks

It's tough for me to even finish writing this because OS X keeps dropping whatever app I'm using and goes back to the desktop. This started happening after the Mavericks upgrade.

There are no error windows popping up in the background. I have force quit everything. I have restarted over and over and over.

I probably had to reselect this window to finish writing this about 60+ times.

Anybody else having this issue?

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9), OS X Mavericks

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 8:49 PM

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Answer 1

elcidelcid Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 26, 2013 7:57 PM in response to Jrman52

I had the problem start again, so I called Apple support. They had me do a PRAM start up, hold down Command+R & Option+P while booting up. The problem has gone away, so far.

After just reading your comment about App Nap, I see everything is set to "No," so I will be sure to check Activity Monitor for those App Nap settings if the problem shows up again.

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Answer 2

mo75dc

Level 1

8 points

Apr 23, 2017 1:25 PM in response to elcidelcid

I found a different solution to this same problem. Apparently there are many reasons that the active window becomes deselected. In my case it was the Extensions preference in Safari. Someone on another Mac forum suggested enabling extensions if they were turned off. Mine were not turned off, but one extension needed to be updated. However, the update message was erroneous. When I clicked on Update the message went away. Then everything worked fine! Even windows in other apps, which were also affected, began to behave normally. I was experiencing the problem every 30 seconds or so, but it now hasn’t occurred in maybe 15 minutes.

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Answer 3

Tom_Fry

Level 1

4 points

Sep 25, 2017 2:47 AM in response to elcidelcid

Hello,

as elcidelcidtold so, I checked for a bugger notification, and finally linked dots. I've begin to have the issue since I've uninstalled Razer Synapse (updater for my mouse). It seems that I had part of the app still running (the updater, of the updater, lol) and the logo of the app kept appearing and disappearing in the top bar.

Solved the issue by installing it again ^^

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Answer 4

elcidelcid Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 25, 2013 7:15 AM in response to elcidelcid

Nobody else seems to be having this problem. Who knows, maybe I just happened to get hit by a virus right after I upgraded to Mavericks. I give up. Going to attempt to restore my iMac back to Mountain Lion instead of lugging my iMac through a crowded mall to the Genius Bar. I wish I could stick with Mavericks, because I love how it looks. Wish me luck. (Wrote this on my iPhone 5, which still works like a champ!!)

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Answer 5

Jrman52

Level 1

4 points

Oct 25, 2013 10:42 AM in response to elcidelcid

I have the same issue. I can't finish typing anything in the browser because it automatically deselects it. I tried turning off notifications, and app auto updates incase that was causing the issue. but that did nothing. There has to be more people with the same issue, and a resolution to this problem.

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Answer 6

gbemfica

Level 1

0 points

Oct 25, 2013 10:57 AM in response to elcidelcid

Same issue here. Was just recording a screen video with QuickTime to show how the issue works. It has been less frequent with me, though: about once per minute. It doesn't render my computer useless, but it sure does slow down my productivity.

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Answer 7

elcidelcid Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 25, 2013 6:40 PM in response to gbemfica

The issue of active apps being deselected seems to have gone away, and I am not sure exactly how this happened. I ran Activity Monitor and noticed something called "sysmond" kept running at least once every 10 seconds (sysmond can't be found with Spotlight or Finder). I kept force-quitting "sysmond," and it kept opening. This went on for awhile. In the middle of all this force-quitting business, I kept going back to Safari to do research on what sysmond is all about. After awhile, I noticed that I did not have to keep clicking on Safari to keep it active. Mail started behaving OK as well. Sysmond still runs, but it seems to be under a different PID, 5553. I think the PID showing when the problem was happening was 3992. PID 3992 doesn't show up anymore in the Activity Monitor. Was that the problem? Who knows. Weird....

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Answer 8

elcidelcid Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 26, 2013 1:58 PM in response to elcidelcid

The problem of app being deselected started again when I logged on to my iMac in the morning. I re-installed OS X Mavericks (restart while holding Command+R, follow instructions to turn on mouse/trackpad, select re-install OS X - took about an hour). The re-installation seems to have REALLY solved the problem. I have been loggin on & off the computer all day, and everything seems to be OK.

tl;dr If you have a problem with the app your using being deselected about every 7 to 10 seconds, try re-installing Mavericks.

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Answer 9

Jrman52

Level 1

4 points

Oct 26, 2013 2:51 PM in response to elcidelcid

Ok, so I think i solved the issue without having to do the reinstall senerio. I opened the Activity Monitor, and notice that under the Energy tab, my browser was set to take an App Nap. So I turned it from "Yes" to "No". Didn't solve the problem right away, so I restarted the computer, and problem was solved.

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Answer 10

elcidelcid Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 27, 2013 7:52 AM in response to elcidelcid

The plot thickens...

The "deselecting" problem started again when I logged onto iMac in the morning.

The "deselecting" behavior seemed so much like when a notification is pestering me behind the open window, that I clicked on the one & only third party app icon in the top menu bar to see if that was the bugger causing all this trouble. The icon was for the Cox Cable online storage app. A pop-up showed that the app had a new version update available. I don't use the Cox online storage, so instead of messing with the update, I deleted it. BAM! - the "deselecting" issue immediately stopped.

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Answer 11

gbemfica

Level 1

0 points

Oct 27, 2013 7:56 AM in response to elcidelcid

This sysmond trick seemed to do it for me. Since I didn't log out or restart the computer since, I can't assure it'll remain this way when I have to.

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Answer 12

Jrman52

Level 1

4 points

Oct 27, 2013 3:19 PM in response to elcidelcid

I turned off notifications, app store auto updates and notifications, and anything else that would do the back ground notification. And that's helped as well. Very annoying

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Answer 13

Nov 13, 2013 12:58 PM in response to elcidelcid

elcidelcid, you just saved me from having my headache turn into a full-blown meltdown. The Cox online storage app was indeed the culprit! So glad I didn't do a massive time machine restore like I had planned to.

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Answer 14

Dec 12, 2013 4:42 AM in response to elcidelcid

This just started happening to me this morning. Definitely drives you crazy, and has made it very difficult to do any work.

I have tried everything mentioned in this thread short of re-installing Mavericks. Just wondering if there were any other resolutions people stumbled upon.

Thanks

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Answer 15

Dec 30, 2013 11:13 AM in response to elcidelcid

elcidelcid, OMG I tried everything including a 2 hour phone call to a Parallels rep thinking maybe when I upgraded Parallels and OSX to Mavericks at the same time, that was the issue. Your suggestion to remove the Cox Online Storage app finally solved the problem! Thank YOU SO MUCH!!! Of course it took me a while to figure out how to "Uninstall" the application since I at first didn't notice the "Uninstall" button in the Cox Manage Preferences window. I called Cox and their reps had no clue how to get rid of the application either... I finally figured it out though. What a Nightmare!!! I am forever grateful for your solution!!!

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