mouse - Applications losing focus for a few seconds in Windows 7

16
2013-10
  • user12932

    Recently all of my applications keep losing focus every minute (or so) for a few seconds (then the window gets the focus back). It is very annoying, since I'm typing most of the time and get interrupted by this behavior. Things worked fine until a week ago and I have no idea what is causing this error, but I noticed the mouse moves to a certain point on one of my screens when this happens.

    I would appreciate any advice: it starts to drive me crazy...

    • Answers
  • Majenko

    This sounds like there may be something nasty on your machine.

    Check your machine for malware with something like MalwareBytes to see if you have picked up a little bug.


    • Related Question

    Stop Windows XP applications from stealing focus
  • FrustratedWithFormsDesigner

    I have Windows XP Profesional here and it gets very annoying when an application that I launched five minutes ago finally brings up its main window and steals focus from the email that I'm writing (or other currently focused window). Is there any way, native to Windows XP, that I can disable this? I know some applications will just blink their title bar on the Taskbar rather than stealing focus, but they don't all behave this nicely.

    I am working in a corporate environment, so there may be a limit on what extras/tools can be installed. Also, I am not sure I have access to regedit (and even if I do, Helpdesk will probably not be amused if they find I'm using it).


    • Related Answers
  • Darth Android

    As provided by this tips & tricks article:

    To prevent applications from stealing the focus from the window you are working in:

    1. Start Regedit
    2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
    3. Edit the key ForegroundLockTimeout
    4. Give it a value of 00030d40

    You should have permission to modify this as a regular user (a corporate administrator could still lock down the setting if they really wanted to - I wouldn't see why, though). If editing the registry is not something you're comfortable with, you might also look at the program TweakXP and search for an option titled "Prevent other applications from stealing focus"