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

2012-06-15T21:01:50+00:00

Ditto problem.

Most of the solutions mentioned above (disabling various programs) won't help my problem because I'm not running the (offending) programs in the first place. But disabling Bluetooth did seem to help. At least, I haven't lost focus yet while typing this message (and that hasn't happened for months!).

So I second the "disable Bluetooth." At least, so far.

Thanks to all for posting this thread. I felt like I was wandering alone in a MS desert!

AL
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Anonymous

2012-06-15T21:12:34+00:00

To all of those who have posted about this, thanks for your input! In my case, the problem seems to have gone away, but since that meant the absence of symptoms, I have no idea when it was or what I did that did the trick. I just reinstalled 7 on the machine I'm using now, and it seems to have a similar problem, though I'm not 100% sure it's not user error in this case. If I determine that it's the same thing, I'll be quick to try out the solutions suggested here (and to keep track of what does and does not work this time).

Thanks again!
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Anonymous

2012-06-15T21:17:39+00:00

Exploring the Dell user forums provided 2 leads; I've tried both, so far, so good. One was disabling the keyboard's ambient light sensor; the other was a registry hack concerning focus.

Here's the link:

http://commweb-ps3.us.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19393785.aspx?PageIndex=3

This has been SO frustrating. I'm glad to finally have at least some hope of a fix.

AL
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Anonymous

2012-06-16T05:34:15+00:00

Hi there,

seems to having the same problem on my newly installed PC.

It appears that my problem was caused by additional wireless network adapter that i am using through USB port. You are given a cd that contains the driver, once installed, it will have a GUI that allows you to connect and disconnect to wireless networks.

The moment i close that GUI (not minimizing it to the tray), no focus is lost. (without the GUI, the adapter still works fine, since its already installed to windows to recognize that the PC has a wireless network receiver).

There, my problem solved, and i'm just sharing though.

Forgive my grammar, not a native speaker.
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