Well, about the start menu thing, that happens to me with various games, not sure the exact reason, but it has something to do with what "window" is selected, often if it's happening, no window is selected, but my game window is open. I fix it easily by just alt+tabbing into my game window, or sometimes just clicking in the game. Though that may not be the same problem you had.
I'm glad I have things for stupid crap like securom.