Windows lose focus, seemingly at random

Anonymous

Since upgrading from Vista Business to 7 Business, I've run into an intermittent issue. Windows seem to lose focus at random. It may be happening more than I realize, since I have to be actively using the window to notice when it stops accepting my input. For instance, I might be scrolling to the bottom of a web page when I realize that moving the scroll wheel on my mouse no longer has any effect, or I might be typing something in Word while looking away from the screen, only to realize upon looking back that half of the sentence I'd typed was ignored because of a shift in focus. If I'm reading a particularly long web page, I'll occasionally notice the color of the transparent title bar change slightly when the focus changes, as though I'd clicked over to another program. I haven't been able to figure out what is stealing the focus whenever this happens, and it's a new occurrence under 7. Unfortunately, it's sporadic enough that trying to turn off programs running in the background to determine if they're the cause may prove kind of tricky. Has anyone else run into anything like this? If so, any fixes? I have a feeling the culprit may be the GMail Notifier or Trillian Astra, since they both pop up notices from time to time, but many (if not all) of those notices typically don't cause problems.

Any help you can offer would be great.

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Anonymous

Hey karpar,

Any third party software conflicting with Windows components can result to this behavior. Hence, putting your system in clean boot state can help in determining the culprit application or program. A clean boot loads only those files and programs that are absolutely required by the Operating System. Upon determining the background application causing the issue, you may contact the vendor for assistance.

Steps to perform clean boot:

1) Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

2) If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

3) On the General tab, click Selective Startup.

4) Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box.

5) Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.

6) Click OK.

7) When you are prompted, click Restart.

After the computer starts, test and see whether the sporadic behavior of Windows loosing focus continues.

If not, we definitely know for sure that the behavior is contributed by third party software conflicts.

To determine which application, follow the steps mentioned in the article below.

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

After you determine the startup item or the service that causes the problem, contact the program manufacturer to determine whether the problem can be resolved

Having done so, don’t forget to return your computer to start normally.

Reset the computer to start as usual

1) Click Start, type msconfig.exe in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

2) If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

3) On the General tab, click the Normal Startup option, and then click OK.

4) When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Restart.

Hope this resolves the issue.

Regards,

Shinmila H - Microsoft Support

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74 additional answers

Anonymous

2013-10-21T18:51:40+00:00

Me the same, USB controlled wireless acceptor device. I closed the programme now it looks fine, i think.

Problem was caused by my tp-link wireless adaptor "wireless configuration tool" software.

I still can use the adaptor, I just closed the wireless configuration tool.

Now the problem is gone.
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Anonymous

2013-11-26T18:49:41+00:00

Hi

I had the same problem

I was using a TP Link wireless dongle. The GUI opens and I usually just minimize it but by exiting it completely the losing focus problem seems to have been solved.

Thank you for posting

rockydiver

Hello - seems like a needle in a haystack solution here but I believe this is my same issue. Started happening with the dongle install - and now that I've closed the app rather than minimize - so far so good.

The other issue was my wifi disconnecting at the same time - seemed like something took focus of the cursor/mouse/keyboard and then said to disconnect wifi - like a hotkey. But, I don't know why - it just has started working properly since I closed that app.

Thank you again - and Google - this was really getting on my nerves... ;-)
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Anonymous

2013-11-30T17:43:38+00:00

I too had fitted a tp-link usb wireless adapter to my laptop. But I did it some weeks ago without this very annoying and time wasting problem. It was only when I upgraded browser to explorer 9 that the problem started. Literally reading through the first 3 pages here, I had to click back on to them midway to scroll down, thats how frequent the problem was. I was able to see it happening as I read, the sudden change in window frame shade.

I did think to open task manager and watch the active processes there, but despite losing focus about 5 times, I couldn't see any substantially different change in processor use by any running process, so what ever it is, is obviously a very minor program, or I'm not quick enough to spot it.

When I read the second person blaming the TP, I tried it myself, so far it's ok. I hadn't closed the TP before, only minimised because previously it seemed everytime I did close that window, the adapter would stop working shortly after dropping my net connection. So far though it hasn't, time will tell.

I really did wonder though if it was a conflict between mouse and touchpad, I use a mouse at home for ease. But yesterday when I disabled the pad, the focus was still been lost. Then after an hour or so, the problem seemed to go away until today again. And that was without closing, justing minimising the TP link box.

I conclude then, that yes, it's conflicts between drivers doing the same windows' stuff, i.e pointer control, wireless link or whatever. So to those still searching for a resolution, think carefully about what you have duplicating a common task. either that or different drivers, badly written are misusing other areas. Oh for the days of DOS 6.11
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Anonymous

2013-12-17T15:03:14+00:00

I had this problem myself, and eventually found it to be because of an incompatible service that was loading/crashing/restarting repeatedly in the background. I uninstalled the (happened to be enterprise forensic) software that created the service and the problem ceased.

Look to the Event Viewer for items relating to service crashes and restarts.
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