[help] Strange pop-up on Win10

[Silvz]

Hi, fellow members.

Since yesterday, I have noticed something weird happening in my notebook, and I'm starting to get worried because it has never happened before and I cannot find help on the internet.

There is a pop up window that appears for least than a second, too fast to see normaly, but noticeable since it happens constantly. It doesn't load anything, nor changes any apparent aspects on my notebook, but looks like something is being opened. The first time I saw it, however, it was a Command Prompt-like window, so that is where my fear of it being a problem comes from.

Also, it can happen any moment, even using programs that usually have priority, such as games and video players.

If someone knows what it may be, or possible recommendations on keeping my notebook "safe", I would appreciate. I don't have pictures because it would be near impossible to print the issue.

 

Edit: As the title says, I'm using Windows 10, which had a small update recently. I've been using it since it was released for testing, and only yesterday this problem happened.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Silvz

[Dreamysyu]

To be honest, I doubt anyone will be able to help you basing on just that information. It literally can be anything. It may be Windows installing some important update, but, just in case, try checking for viruses if you still haven't done so. Other than that... Maybe, try keeping the Task Manager open, and when it happens again notice which apps use the CP and the disk the most.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Dreamysyu

[Barktooth]

Open Task Scheduler and browse around for anything that looks like it may open a CMD window.

[Silvz]

1 hour ago, Dreamysyu said:

To be honest, I doubt anyone will be able to help you basing on just that information. It literally can be anything. It may be Windows installing some important update, but, just in case, try checking for viruses if you still haven't done so. Other than that... Maybe, try keeping the Task Manager open, and when it happens again notice which apps use the CP and the disk the most.

I know, but I had to try

[Narcosis]

36 minutes ago, Barktooth said:

Open Task Scheduler and browse around for anything that looks like it may open a CMD window.

Alternatively, open msconfig and check for any suspicious entries on the system startup list.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Narcosis

[Okarin]

1. Discard the virus hypothesis, by doing a scan.

2. If you have the time, go uninstalling programs until the problem disappears. If it does, then reinstall everything bit by bit, careful that it doesn't reappear. If you uninstall everything but the basics and it keeps happening, consider a reinstallation of the OS.

Short version: if you haven't time, just reinstall Windows cleanly (formatting your partition and reinstalling). Make a backup of everything important before. Use Ninite to quickly rebuild your basic list of programs.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Okarin

[Vokoca]

Do you happen to have Office installed? If so, here's what fixed it for me:

1. Open Task Scheduler
2. Go into the task scheduler library > Microsoft > Office
3. You will notice that OfficeBackgroundTaskHandlerRegistration is set to repeat every single hour
4. Right-click the task and disable it

That's what fixed it for me at least, haven't had the popup ever since. If you don't have that Office task scheduled for every single hour, there is still a good chance you will find your problem in the Task Scheduler. Just open it up when you notice the popup and go through all the categories, sorting the tasks by the last time they were ran. You can also manually run them to check if that was what you were seeing.

Hope this helps!

Edited May 29, 2017 by Vokoca

[Akimoto Masato]

i can't say anything because (What they said) it literally could be anything

[CCM]

I have the same thing. It does not bother me, though. You might want to try Vokoca's method because Office have this uploader manager thingy which open randomly.

[Noir]

Same thing happened to me. I think it was microsoft office too because it paused once and I saw that. Don't know how to fix it or anything else about it.

[Fred the Barber]

Did you even read all the posts in the thread? I noticed the same problem fairly recently (and find it super annoying), and found this well-timed post on Tom's Hardware suggesting exactly what Vokoca said, so I'm trying it out without reasonably high hopes.

[Darklord Rooke]

I'm suddenly quite pleased that I uninstalled anything to do with MS Office the same day I got this W10 laptop and have opted for LibreOffice instead :3

[atorq]

I have had a similar problem, always seemed to happen around the same time late at night. I haven't seen it in a while, I believe I fixed it somehow but I have no idea what I did.

8 hours ago, Darklord Rooke said:

I'm suddenly quite pleased that I uninstalled anything to do with MS Office the same day I got this W10 laptop and have opted for LibreOffice instead :3

While LibreOffice is better than nothing, I have no idea how anyone does anything without MS Office. There's always something missing or just not working properly in the alternatives.

[Darklord Rooke]

44 minutes ago, atorq said:

While LibreOffice is better than nothing, I have no idea how anyone does anything without MS Office. There's always something missing or just not working properly in the alternatives.

There's a couple of reasons people should use MS Office. 1) They need to make heavy use of Excel or another non-Word program. The excel program in LibreOffice is not very good, for example. 2) Compatible formats with colleagues.

For those using MS Office mainly for MS Word (and possibly some light excel use,) but want to use Word for casual purposes, LibreOffice is almost as good and is free. I'd seriously consider it mainly because MS Word is not that great a word processor, and Libre's version is pretty much MS Word 2003 so it's almost as good.Journalists/bloggers/researchers/writers who need an intensive word program will probably want to fork out for Scrivener. It's many times better than MS Word for any kind of professional writing. I have Scrivener and do most of my actual writing on that, and casually use LibreOffice for junk text stuff. I don't really use Excel and Powerpoint so I don't need MSOffice  

[Darklord Rooke]

I keep a copy of Word on the desktop because you sometimes need it when working with others, but it doesn’t really see much use. I hate that I’m forced to have a copy  

... although the desktop is currently in pieces atm xD. Life without Word isn't so bad :3

[Fred the Barber]

FWIW, Vokoca's fix does indeed seem to have solved things for me. So, don't worry, you don't need to uninstall Office and install any of Rooke's programs, just disable that task