Not necessarily, I just discovered.
I don't do a lot of game playing, but I just tried to play Total Annihilation. The game kept minimizing after only a couple of full-screen sessions. I finally narrowed it down to F@H (the GUI version). Even pausing work didn't do it. I actually had to quit the utility before the game would operate correctly.
Might be bacause it's an older game. Might be because I'm not using the console version of F@H on this machine. Who knows. Just thought I'd bring it up, though, just in case someone else experiences it.
Done playing now-- F@H is back up and running...
Try the console. I think that OpenGL display really kills some video cards.
I also noticed that on older games my display jumps between the game and the desktop when running the GUI version. While the game runs OK F@H cannot adjust the PixelFormat and abends.
I now turn it off before older games, and run the console version on another system.
Same thing with Dungeon Siege II. If I leave it running, it minimizes every time I do something involving opening a new pane (looking at the map, opening the inventory. . .) If I pause it, it minimizes after running movies. Exiting solved the problem.
I bet the CLI version would be no problem, but I like being able to watch my protein fold.
I have a Radeon 9600SE. What's your video card?