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

2016-01-20T18:36:21+00:00

... 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. ...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.

This is the problem I have, and I had it on a Windows 7 desktop before now experiencing it on a new Windows 10 laptop. I suspect the culprit in my case is Outlook's alerts, but I have not confirmed it. I don't use the applications named in other solutions here.

The focus switches randomly to some other window that doesn't accept what I'm typing. Sometimes I get a warning beep -- I assume because I'm typing an unacceptable keyboard command; thus perhaps some characters I type are interpreted as commands and do things I'm unaware of (such as dismiss appointment reminders or close dialog boxes).

Sometimes the focus flashes back to the Word or e-mail window; sometimes I have to click to get it back.
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Anonymous

2016-02-24T22:39:30+00:00

I found this fix of the below video;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpPcVVnytpI

but if you don't want to visit it, you make a registry entry of the below in notepad and save as .reg

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="5000"

"HungAppTimeout"="5000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]

""WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="5000"

[HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]

"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="5000"

"HungAppTimeout"="5000"

Then double click, to install, and restart. Works for me
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Anonymous

2016-05-01T16:27:54+00:00

This problem has escalated from a minor irritation to a full blown problem. Something is wrong with Windows as far as I can tell. I can't believe so many people have had this problem and nothing has been done about it.

At first I found it was within a browser when I opened a page and got to an input search box I would start typing only to realise that the focus had gone to the browsers "find in page" box.

It then progressed and like many others on here I noticed is I was typing in one window and suddenly Windows would switch to another window almost at random - there it just happened again -.

I also noticed that after a day or so after a reboot (I've rebooted Windows 10 more times than my Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 8 machines together and that was probably 15 years of computing) the calculator would stop functioning. I get a black screen with a picture of a calculator but no numbers or - it just jumped again -functionality.

I now find that along with losing focus almost at random, it is difficult to get back to the window I want to be in. Clicking on the top bar does not bring it back into focus, I have to minimise the windows that have come the the front. Some windows like "This PC" will -just jumped again - open in an unfocused window.
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Anonymous

2017-01-24T17:41:34+00:00

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.

What if the issue persists? What should we do then?
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