Active Window loses focus

[Guest]

The active window constantly loses focus and I have to click the mouse to
make it the active window again. Very annoying when trying to type in Word
or E-mail. Recently upgraded to SP2. What can I do to correct this?

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Applications Stealing Focus on Windows XP:
http://mycvs.org/archives/2004/11/16/applications-stealing-focus-on-windows-xp/

--
Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Shell/User
http://windowsxp.mvps.org


The active window constantly loses focus and I have to click the mouse to
make it the active window again. Very annoying when trying to type in Word
or E-mail. Recently upgraded to SP2. What can I do to correct this?

 

[Alex Nichol]

The active window constantly loses focus and I have to click the mouse to
make it the active window again. Very annoying when trying to type in Word
or E-mail. Recently upgraded to SP2.

Use TweakUI - one of the XP Powertoys from
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Once installed you will find it in Start - All Programs - Powertoys for
Windows XP

Its General - Focus page, check 'Prevent applications from stealing
focus' and Apply.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info. Are there particular programs which may be causing
this? Something I can possibly prevent from starting when I start my
computer?

 

[SMankad]

Look at the mouse settings as well

If you are still facing a similar problem you may also want to look at the settings for the mouse. Especially if you see the X-Mouse information in Tweak UI. This seems to almost have more of an impact than the "Prevent Applications from Stealing Focus" function!

 

[quadlock]

XP loss of Focus

Applies only to ATI-Sapphire display board users with focus problem

My XP (SP3) started doing this - current window losing focus as you type or whatever) it seems to have been the result of allowing the ATI-Sapphire keyboard polling process to load and run which it does automatically - I disabled that and problem went away. I'd tried disabling enhanced text services and tried using tweakUI (power toy) but they made no difference. I never use the hotkeys for display so not a problem for me I was losing focus after about 30 seconds from current window and could not type much - Its been some hours since I did the disable and its still working OK. - use msconfig - start - run and then un-tick - or right clock "my computer" and choose manage - then service & applications and then services - you should see the ATI stuff.