Open programs go into background while using

[keith]

Sometime after installing SP2, I found that various of my programs
would go into background mode while I was working in them. For
example, I'll be composing an email message and the cursor disappears,
the blue bar at the top turns light blue and I have to click the mouse
in the window to resume working. This never happened before. Any
ideas or solutions?

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Sometime after installing SP2, I found that various of my programs
would go into background mode while I was working in them. For
example, I'll be composing an email message and the cursor disappears,
the blue bar at the top turns light blue and I have to click the mouse
in the window to resume working. This never happened before. Any
ideas or solutions?

This usually happens when another program or application 'steals' the focus
from the active window. Have you tried to determine which program is
responsible?

One thing you can do is install the free Tweak UI utility from Microsoft.
Once installed, open TweakUI and select General / Focus and place a check
next to "Prevent applications from stealing focus".

Microsoft PowerToys (Tweak UI)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

I also see this behavior, and my cursor appears in the corner of the screen
when it happens. Is that true for you? I use a pen and also a USB mouse. Do
you have two pointing devices also?

 

[keith]

No such cursor in the corner with me. I just loose control.

I'm going to download and try the TweakUI as mentioned by Ronnie
Vernon MVP.

 

[keith]

Thanks for the suggestion Ronnie.

I've noticed that svchost.exe and explorer seem to take some cpu
activity at fairly regular intervals. I don't know if this was how it
acted before this issue arose, as I never went looking for a problem
(as there wasn't any).

I did what you said with TweakUI and it seems to have solved the
problem so far. I haven't had my news client lose focus yet in the
course of typing this message, which would've happened before using
it.

What's the svchost.exe about, anyway? (if you don't mind)

I recall doing a search in an MS knowledge database and found
reference to lsass (if I recall correctly), but I wasn't convinced
that it was involved. Most of my effort went towards searches for
spyware and viruses.

Thanks for your help, it's nice not losing focus all the time now.
Keith

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Thanks for the suggestion Ronnie.

I've noticed that svchost.exe and explorer seem to take some cpu
activity at fairly regular intervals. I don't know if this was how it
acted before this issue arose, as I never went looking for a problem
(as there wasn't any).

I did what you said with TweakUI and it seems to have solved the
problem so far. I haven't had my news client lose focus yet in the
course of typing this message, which would've happened before using
it.

What's the svchost.exe about, anyway? (if you don't mind)

I recall doing a search in an MS knowledge database and found
reference to lsass (if I recall correctly), but I wasn't convinced
that it was involved. Most of my effort went towards searches for
spyware and viruses.

Thanks for your help, it's nice not losing focus all the time now.
Keith

Keith

Your Welcome. Glad this helped.

The svchost.exe and Explorer.exe intermittently using resources is normal on
XP. The Explorer.exe is the Windows shell. For the svchost.exe, take a look
at the following article for a good description. However, this should not
result in a window losing focus?

Description of Svchost.exe in Windows XP:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/svchost.htm