# ANy way to stop a window from stealing focus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-stop-a-window-from-stealing-focus/291928 "2005-02-25T20:37:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-stop-a-window-from-stealing-focus/291928/1 "2005-02-25T20:37:47Z")
OK, so several times when I surf I have multiple iwndwos open, and will alt-tab between pages. However, sometimes, when a page is done laoding, it will pop up as the current page, even if I am in another window, even if it’s minimized. Is there a way to keep IE windows from doing this? It’s very annoying to find out that have my post I thought I typed is gone because yahoo mail’s login window thinks it’s so important you need to be taken to it the instant it’s done loading. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-stop-a-window-from-stealing-focus/291928/2 "2005-02-25T22:20:56Z")
Sorry I haven’t got an answer (that ‘feature’ irritates me too) but a question. (not for the OP but the answer might be useful to both of us) Does firefox do the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-stop-a-window-from-stealing-focus/291928/3 "2005-02-25T22:36:02Z")
[Tweak UI](http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp) [Screen shot.](http://fff.fathom.org/pages/attrayant/TweakUI%20screenshot.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-stop-a-window-from-stealing-focus/291928/4 "2005-02-25T22:37:28Z")
> [@Patty O'Furniture](#): > > [Tweak UI](http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp) > > [Screen shot.](http://fff.fathom.org/pages/attrayant/TweakUI%20screenshot.JPG) I love you. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-stop-a-window-from-stealing-focus/291928/5 "2005-02-25T23:04:06Z")
You didn’t say what operating system you were using, but I can guess. It’s a defect (focus stealing) in the operating system’s graphical user interface. It afflicts Windows and many other operating systems. See tip #17 at [http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1681&page=7](http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1681&page=7) for a fix for Windows XP. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-stop-a-window-from-stealing-focus/291928/6 "2005-02-26T04:40:52Z")
The TweakUI thing never worked for me, but I found a far better solution - switched to Firefox. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-stop-a-window-from-stealing-focus/291928/7 "2005-02-27T01:46:23Z")
> [@Cugel](#): > > The TweakUI thing never worked for me, but I found a far better solution - switched to Firefox. Yep. Just set it to load tabs in the background, and you got it made. I fucking hate programs that steal focus.