I've had a few occasions where File Explorer dialogs (e.g., "overwrite existing file?", etc.) pop up behind File Explorer itself.  Normally I use short, wide File Explorer windows, so I usually see a small part of the dialog between windows - and of course it flashes the icon on the Taskbar.

I've heard others are seeing this as well.

Has anyone found any good workarounds for this errant behavior yet in Windows 8.1?

  

Hi Noel, 

Have you inserted any external HDD in your computer?

Would you please help to capture a screenshot of this issue  you mentioned?

I suggest we can try to use Process explorer to view if there are any other process call the explorer.exe when the issue appears:

Process Explorer v15.40
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

 

Hi Kate,

Thank you for your response.  Somehow I missed seeing it before - my apologies.

I've just had it occur again today twice.  It came close to causing a big problem because some files I thought had been copied hadn't, and the pop-up dialog was hidden completely behind several Windows.

Yes, I have an external backup drive (a Western Digital MyBook USB drive, specifically).

I will strive to get you a screen grab as well as some additional information from ProcExp.