Can't get "Prevent applications from stealing focus" option to stick

[Herb]

I have the Windows TweakUI utility installed and I use it for adjusting
my mouse settings etc.

It also has an option to "Prevent applications from stealing focus", but
on my Windows XP laptop I can't make this option stick, i.e. it seems to
uncheck itself after rebooting :-(

Any ideas?

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

 

[Wesley Vogel]

It doesn't work correctly anyway. Try clicking Apply before closing
TweakUI.

TweakUI
[+] General
Focus

Focus
[[Enables to user to "prevent applications from stealing focus" from the
window you are working in. Instead, their taskbar icon will flash to
indicate that the application is trying to get your attention.]]

[[When an application needs your attention-or when it simply wants to annoy
you-it steals the focus from the application in which you're currently
working. This leads to frustration as you flip back and forth between
windows. The settings in the Focus category prevent that scenario by causing
applications to flash their taskbar buttons to get your attention rather
than stealing focus from the application in the foreground.]]
----

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Value Name: ForegroundFlashCount
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0 thru X
0 = taskbar button flashes until you click it
1 thru X = flashes the number of times for value set

Value Name: ForegroundLockTimeout
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 00030d40
The default value is 0x00030D40 (200000)
This value is the time in milliseconds before Windows XP allows an
application to steal the focus from the foreground application. To convert
200000 to seconds, divide it by 1000 (200 seconds).

From...
Microsoft® Windows® XP Registry Guide
Chapter 5 Mapping Tweak UI
http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/sampchap/6232.asp

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Herb]

It doesn't work correctly anyway. Try clicking Apply before closing
TweakUI.

TweakUI
[+] General
Focus

Focus
[[Enables to user to "prevent applications from stealing focus" from the
window you are working in. Instead, their taskbar icon will flash to
indicate that the application is trying to get your attention.]]

[[When an application needs your attention-or when it simply wants to annoy
you-it steals the focus from the application in which you're currently
working. This leads to frustration as you flip back and forth between
windows. The settings in the Focus category prevent that scenario by causing
applications to flash their taskbar buttons to get your attention rather
than stealing focus from the application in the foreground.]]
----

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Value Name: ForegroundFlashCount
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0 thru X
0 = taskbar button flashes until you click it
1 thru X = flashes the number of times for value set

Value Name: ForegroundLockTimeout
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 00030d40
The default value is 0x00030D40 (200000)
This value is the time in milliseconds before Windows XP allows an
application to steal the focus from the foreground application. To convert
200000 to seconds, divide it by 1000 (200 seconds).

From...
Microsoft® Windows® XP Registry Guide
Chapter 5 Mapping Tweak UI
http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/sampchap/6232.asp

Thanks for that.

Both ForegroundLockTimeout and ForegroundFlashCount are set to 0 (shown
as "0x00000000 (0)" in the Data column.

I'm not quite sure what the values should be...

Thanks

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

 

[Wesley Vogel]

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Value Name: ForegroundFlashCount
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: I have 1

Value Name: ForegroundLockTimeout
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: I have 00030d40

ForegroundFlashCount
[[Description
Specifies the number of times the taskbar button flashes to notify the user
that the system has activated a background window. If the time elapsed since
the last user input exceeds the value of the ForegroundLockTimeout entry,
the window will automatically be brought to the foreground.]]
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...s/2000/server/reskit/en-us/regentry/55199.asp

ForegroundLockTimeout
[[Description
Specifies the time, following user input, during which the system keeps
applications from moving into the foreground.]]
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...s/2000/server/reskit/en-us/regentry/55200.asp

[[This tweak requires the modification of two values, depending on the way
you would like applications to take the focus. The first setting controls
whether applications simply steal the focus, that is pop-up over the
existing in focus window, or if instead they wait in the background and
flash the taskbar icon. The second setting controls the flashing of the
icon. ]]

[[Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value named
'ForegroundLockTimeout', change the value to either the timeout required, or
to '0' which causes the application to take the focus instantly. The default
value is '200000' (0x00030d40 hex).

The other settings affects the number of times the icon flashes if above
value was not set to zero.

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called
'ForegroundFlashCount' set the value (in decimal) to the number times to
flash the taskbar icon, setting the value to '0' cases the icon to flash
infinitely. The default value is '3'. ]]
Change the Application Focus Settings
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/540/

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

It doesn't work correctly anyway. Try clicking Apply before closing
TweakUI.

TweakUI
[+] General
Focus

Focus
[[Enables to user to "prevent applications from stealing focus" from the
window you are working in. Instead, their taskbar icon will flash to
indicate that the application is trying to get your attention.]]

[[When an application needs your attention-or when it simply wants to
annoy you-it steals the focus from the application in which you're
currently working. This leads to frustration as you flip back and forth
between windows. The settings in the Focus category prevent that
scenario by causing applications to flash their taskbar buttons to get
your attention rather than stealing focus from the application in the
foreground.]] ----

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Value Name: ForegroundFlashCount
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0 thru X
0 = taskbar button flashes until you click it
1 thru X = flashes the number of times for value set

Value Name: ForegroundLockTimeout
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 00030d40
The default value is 0x00030D40 (200000)
This value is the time in milliseconds before Windows XP allows an
application to steal the focus from the foreground application. To
convert 200000 to seconds, divide it by 1000 (200 seconds).

From...
Microsoft® Windows® XP Registry Guide
Chapter 5 Mapping Tweak UI
http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/sampchap/6232.asp

Thanks for that.

Both ForegroundLockTimeout and ForegroundFlashCount are set to 0 (shown
as "0x00000000 (0)" in the Data column.

I'm not quite sure what the values should be...

Thanks

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

 

[Herb]

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Value Name: ForegroundFlashCount
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: I have 1

Value Name: ForegroundLockTimeout
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: I have 00030d40

ForegroundFlashCount
[[Description
Specifies the number of times the taskbar button flashes to notify the user
that the system has activated a background window. If the time elapsed since
the last user input exceeds the value of the ForegroundLockTimeout entry,
the window will automatically be brought to the foreground.]]
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...s/2000/server/reskit/en-us/regentry/55199.asp

ForegroundLockTimeout
[[Description
Specifies the time, following user input, during which the system keeps
applications from moving into the foreground.]]
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...s/2000/server/reskit/en-us/regentry/55200.asp

[[This tweak requires the modification of two values, depending on the way
you would like applications to take the focus. The first setting controls
whether applications simply steal the focus, that is pop-up over the
existing in focus window, or if instead they wait in the background and
flash the taskbar icon. The second setting controls the flashing of the
icon. ]]

[[Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value named
'ForegroundLockTimeout', change the value to either the timeout required, or
to '0' which causes the application to take the focus instantly. The default
value is '200000' (0x00030d40 hex).

The other settings affects the number of times the icon flashes if above
value was not set to zero.

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called
'ForegroundFlashCount' set the value (in decimal) to the number times to
flash the taskbar icon, setting the value to '0' cases the icon to flash
infinitely. The default value is '3'. ]]
Change the Application Focus Settings
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/540/

Thanks for the further info.

I have changed my settings to the same as yours, and I'll see how I get
on with them.

However, one thing I noticed straight away that doesn't work as I want
it to is that if I click on a web link in my e-mail/news program, the
browser comes up in the foreground, i.e. steals focus from e-mail/news
program. I had hoped that I might be able to prevent this by changing
the Foreground settings. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

 

[Wesley Vogel]

program. I had hoped that I might be able to prevent this by changing

the Foreground settings. Am I missing something?

Clicking the link gives the browser focus. No way around that.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Value Name: ForegroundFlashCount
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: I have 1

Value Name: ForegroundLockTimeout
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: I have 00030d40

ForegroundFlashCount
[[Description
Specifies the number of times the taskbar button flashes to notify the
user that the system has activated a background window. If the time
elapsed since the last user input exceeds the value of the
ForegroundLockTimeout entry, the window will automatically be brought to
the foreground.]]
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...s/2000/server/reskit/en-us/regentry/55199.asp

ForegroundLockTimeout
[[Description
Specifies the time, following user input, during which the system keeps
applications from moving into the foreground.]]
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...s/2000/server/reskit/en-us/regentry/55200.asp

[[This tweak requires the modification of two values, depending on the
way you would like applications to take the focus. The first setting
controls whether applications simply steal the focus, that is pop-up
over the existing in focus window, or if instead they wait in the
background and flash the taskbar icon. The second setting controls the
flashing of the icon. ]]

[[Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value named
'ForegroundLockTimeout', change the value to either the timeout
required, or to '0' which causes the application to take the focus
instantly. The default value is '200000' (0x00030d40 hex).

The other settings affects the number of times the icon flashes if above
value was not set to zero.

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called
'ForegroundFlashCount' set the value (in decimal) to the number times to
flash the taskbar icon, setting the value to '0' cases the icon to flash
infinitely. The default value is '3'. ]]
Change the Application Focus Settings
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/540/

Thanks for the further info.

I have changed my settings to the same as yours, and I'll see how I get
on with them.

However, one thing I noticed straight away that doesn't work as I want
it to is that if I click on a web link in my e-mail/news program, the
browser comes up in the foreground, i.e. steals focus from e-mail/news
program. I had hoped that I might be able to prevent this by changing
the Foreground settings. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

 

[Herb]

Clicking the link gives the browser focus. No way around that.

OK, thanks.

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Keep having fun.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Herb]

I just found out that in Firefox there is in fact a way of preventing
the browser stealing the focus by setting
browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground to true

Regards

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

program. I had hoped that I might be able to prevent this by changing
the Foreground settings. Am I missing something?

Clicking the link gives the browser focus. No way around that.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Value Name: ForegroundFlashCount
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: I have 1

Value Name: ForegroundLockTimeout
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: I have 00030d40

ForegroundFlashCount
[[Description
Specifies the number of times the taskbar button flashes to notify the
user that the system has activated a background window. If the time
elapsed since the last user input exceeds the value of the
ForegroundLockTimeout entry, the window will automatically be brought to
the foreground.]]

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...s/2000/server/reskit/en-us/regentry/55199.asp

ForegroundLockTimeout
[[Description
Specifies the time, following user input, during which the system keeps
applications from moving into the foreground.]]
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...s/2000/server/reskit/en-us/regentry/55200.asp

[[This tweak requires the modification of two values, depending on the
way you would like applications to take the focus. The first setting
controls whether applications simply steal the focus, that is pop-up
over the existing in focus window, or if instead they wait in the
background and flash the taskbar icon. The second setting controls the
flashing of the icon. ]]

[[Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value named
'ForegroundLockTimeout', change the value to either the timeout
required, or to '0' which causes the application to take the focus
instantly. The default value is '200000' (0x00030d40 hex).

The other settings affects the number of times the icon flashes if above
value was not set to zero.

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called
'ForegroundFlashCount' set the value (in decimal) to the number times to
flash the taskbar icon, setting the value to '0' cases the icon to flash
infinitely. The default value is '3'. ]]
Change the Application Focus Settings
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/540/

Thanks for the further info.

I have changed my settings to the same as yours, and I'll see how I get
on with them.

However, one thing I noticed straight away that doesn't work as I want
it to is that if I click on a web link in my e-mail/news program, the
browser comes up in the foreground, i.e. steals focus from e-mail/news
program. I had hoped that I might be able to prevent this by changing
the Foreground settings. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk