Flash logs out when window is covered or tabbed off

1st, as new here, hope this is posted in the right place.

Starting a month or so ago, I noticed a new behavior with Flash.  Whenever I would switch to another window, the flash web application I was running (game, advertisement, whatever) would stop, leaving me with a grey window and an 'f' in the middle. Lol, so appropriate. What's the deal? What's the fix? I should be able to tab to another window, minimize, or bring some other window in front of that browser page and still let the thing run "off screen" or hidden.  Why does it stop? Typically I have to login again to the application or restart the demo or application that was running flash.  Very annoying.