This was not happening last time I played. I started the game (full screen, don't even know if windowed is an option), the opening cut scenes stutter a bit, but it kept switching to minimized mode. The game was still playing because I could hear the voice in the background. But it makes it impossible to get going when I have to refind it on the task bar and click it to get it refocused.

I have auto updates disabled (Win 10 is brilliant at breaking games.) I probably had the web browser going in the background and maybe swtor was updating. But nothing was ACTIVE. These are all things I'd done before with the game running without a problem. Does anyone have a clue what is causing this and how I can fix it?

You can probably fix this by turning down your resolution

...or

try running in windowed mode.

1. make a shortcut for the game
2. right click it and select 'properties'
3. click the 'target' text box and type '/win' at the end of it
4. click apply and then ok