whenever I alt+tab out of the game for any reason, i get stuck on the screen thats says to use alt+tab to switch windows, it says the game is in progress and use alt+tab to switch windows, the box the message is in is surronded by a black screen, the only thing to do at that point is to terminate the game program via task manager. any suggestions?

EDIT: I Believe that the GOG launcher used in the game to make it work properly is to be blamed, because this problem is not experienced if the game is launched without it.

I had this exact problem but it turned out to be my virus protection which, while a great package, can really screw with games. Turning it off before hand allows the game to run smooth as silk.

Disabling my Anti Virus makes no change. I am running Nortons.

There is a great launcher for Balls of Steel at ronwarez called bosloader which eliminates all issues we are facing with the launcher provided by GOG.

That's a nice tip. Will try that one out.

Am going to try this one out but the problems with BoS for me are even worse than what is detailed above. After finally getting the game to run and playing once I tried quitting (via the 'Quit' button) and the game locked up as others report above. Only when I try and alt+tab I get nothing. So I try to ctrl+alt+delete and...nothing. Cannot get to the windows task manager screen and am forced to shut down the PC via the main power button.

EDIT: Okay that new launcher seems to have solved the problems. Thanks for giving us that link. Gog should sticky this thread.

Well there's your problem right there.

That ronwarez launcher however does have some extra black borders on the sides... :(

The ronwarez launcher doesn't work for me, says it can't start.

Edit: Got it working but it has a very noticeable screen tearing effect.