Applications stealing focus - reg key no longer fixes

Anonymous
2010-04-08T18:42:59+00:00

I want to prevent any applications from stealing focus in windows 7 (and Vista).  Tweakui used to modify the below Registry key to 0.  Then there was a key that affected the number of flashes a "want to steal focus" window would make in the taskbar.

ForegroundLockTimeout

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

This reg key is apparently no longer working.  Focus stealing is a major problem, from canceling/oking window that pop-up, to getting virus's from IE windows.  Applications are still written to do this, including MS Office 2007.  If you are typing an email something can pop up and get the next key stroke.  I need to fix this.  Any ideas, or has Windows completely removed a needed feature.

tags: steal focus apps active regedit

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Apps

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Anonymous
2011-10-23T11:13:03+00:00

I solved the problem in this way:

I noticed that just before the focus was "stolen", the PC got "busy" for a second (beside the mouse appeared the small circle indicating the processor is working hard on sth).

So I started the Task Manager and gave a close look at the processes. I noticed that one process took over a relevat percentage of CPU usage exactly an instant before the focus was stolen from the task manager window.

Since it was a process that I don't need to be active all the time (sth about Vodafone Mobile connection, which I rarely use) I just stopped the process and then didn't allow the process to be started every time I turn on the PC. I did this last step using Piriform's free software  "CCleaner", but I'm sure you can find different tools for this...

This was enough to fix it ...

Hope this helped!

Bye!

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-12-28T17:39:41+00:00

    Can you tell me how you reproduce it on a fresh install?  I can't seem to trigger it on any of my PC's at will.  I've tried using the command prompt to start items after a delay and such (and other methods, scheduled tasks, whatever) and they always show behind my current window (and flash on the taskbar).  If I can reproduce it with your method, since you're on a fresh install, I can work deeper to find the root cause.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-12-28T12:27:41+00:00

    I've always had this problem and it is the single most annoying thing in Windows. Windows 7 would be an absolute joy to use if only programs wouldn't keep stealing my focus every few seconds/minutes. It makes it impossible to heavily multi-task, as the various running applications will constantly steal my focus away, making it unusable. I even just formatted my computer yesterday and put on a fresh installation of Windows 7, and sure enough focus stealing is still there, just as bad as ever.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-12-27T15:53:33+00:00

    Well said, Ravenous_1. Software installation is an excellent example of cases where the cost of a screw-up is potentially large. The OS shouldn't make it so easy for such screw-ups to occur. At the very least, it should provide the option for the user to turn on protection against such cases.

    David Salahi

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