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
    2012-03-22T13:13:57+00:00

    I think all this discussion become like "Much Ado About Nothing". It seems Microsoft doesn't care about this problem and about us, so all that we are saying here is useless. Even Shawn said is not working for Microsoft, so I think they are not even reading this.

    About the fresh install, I cannot agree with that. As I said, is happening also in an enterprise environment, and to reinstall Windows on hundreds of stations daily just to avoid stealing focus, do you really think is the correct way to fix this? Assuming that it will fix it, which I doubt… And also, the programs installed are used for business purposes, so we can't uninstall them because Microsoft wants this!

    As I already said, I would like this to be fixed by adding a setting somewhere (in the Control Panel for example) to let the users decide if they need this or not. For most of us, the task flashing in the taskbar will be enough.

    Hello, Microsoft, can anybody hear us??!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-03-22T11:02:26+00:00

    Hmm, I tried maximizing an app and launching another app but the second app still popped up on top. Just like always.

    David Salahi

    Yes, I believe all applications will become the active window once they complete their startup.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-03-22T02:48:32+00:00

    Hmm, I tried maximizing an app and launching another app but the second app still popped up on top. Just like always.

    David Salahi

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