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
    2011-10-26T12:13:56+00:00

    My process name was sth like "Mobile Broadland"

    I don't know if other "focus stealing" applications behave the same way, but I suppose that once you have found the process, whatever application it belongs to, IMHO you can try to stop it and see if it solves the problem.

    Be careful that if the process you think might be the "guilty" one belongs to programs like anti-virus or system stuff you could not success in stopping it.

    Does this answer to your question ?

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-10-27T06:57:44+00:00

    In April 9, 2010 you wrote:

    "In Windows 7, applications are not supposed to be allowed to steal focus.  The registry setting was removed because it is always assumed to be "0" in the code."

    In Jan 14, 2011:

    "Microsoft cannot change this behavior.  They are bound by law to ensure that when a program says "show me", that they do indeed show the taskbar. "

    What is the truth? Is it u bug or a feature?

    My truth is that as system admin I can not trust Windows to do the right thing. I have sent passwords to the wrong people and accepted wrong selections while installing. This behavor is a major security issue in my daily work. It HAS to be fixt somehow!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-10-27T13:38:34+00:00

    Are you referring to the Taskbar displaying when an application sets the needy flag (causing the icon to flash or notification area to need displayed?)  That is expected behavior.

    Or are you referring to applications appearing in the foreground and becomming the active window while you are working in another window?  That is not expected behavior (and in fact I haven't yet been able to reproduce it on any of my machines, but given the volume of affected users it is obviously a real and valid concern).  If that's the case, I'm afraid we've not seen a pattern in these forums.  I suspect it could be related to the graphics driver or Aero (try updating the driver or disabling Aero (use a non-Aero theme) and see if that helps).

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