Windows 8 - can't drag files from Explorer and drop on applications

OK, finally worked out what it is. Any applications opened directly from Explorer seem to be fine. Any applications opened from an application launcher anywhere in their history (eg: Launchy, Classic Shell start menu etc) exhibit the above behaviour. Running the application launcher as Administrator mostly fixes the problem, though it still occurs infrequently and I still can't work out why.

Sounds like the applications cannot hook into explorer.

Try to refresh the PC, which takes 5 minutes(don't forget to back up of course) and if that does not work reinstall. I know it is a sucky solution but it definitely is a software problem specific to you.