'invisible' pgms?

[rikona]

The only solution I have found for the scrambled desktops/'fragile' OS
is a reboot, and to accept losing all of my work in apps that just
'disappear'. :-(

When I reboot I close whatever remains, one at a time, saving what I
can before yet another pgm 'disappears'.

But - when I was just doing this [after yet another problem] I did an
alt tab to check what was still there. There were two kinds of things:
(1) an item that I would select with alt tab but nothing happens when
I do, and (2) an item that I would select with alt tab but what
appears is JUST the border/outline line of the window with nothing
inside. At the top is the dark bar with the 3 icons to close etc. Only
the close does anything, and seems to close the [window] outline.

This almost-a-window is like a terminal window, but with no text in
the top bar, just the 3 buttons, and the middle is completely
transparent as though there is nothing there. Just a thin line around
the whole thing.

Now, is it possible that this almost-a-window is one of the
'invisible' apps actually still running? If so, is there a way to get
it to display the entire window, with the contents? This would be
GREAT because then I might not lose all my work!

All suggestions much appreciated...

  rikona