Can't get MATLAB's attention

When MATLAB is running a long program (simulation, optimization, numerical integration, etc.) I sometimes find I cannot get its attention. If the window is minimized, I cannot restore it to check on the program's progress. If the window is visible on screen, I cannot interact with it, although I can still see it updating its progress. The only thing I can do is kill the whole process which means I lose all of my intermediate results. If the window is minimized, I would like to restore it to check on its progress. If the window is visible, I would like to be able to halt program execution early with at CTRL-C so I can save intermediate results.

This doesn't happen all the time and I can't figure out how to reliably reproduce the problem. Noted in MATLAB R2011a and R2011b under Windows 7 SP1.

Or is this an operating system issue, not a MATLAB issue?