# Can you keep programs from stealing "attention" in win2k? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 27, 2003, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-keep-programs-from-stealing-attention-in-win2k/151208 "2003-01-27T09:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-keep-programs-from-stealing-attention-in-win2k/151208/1 "2003-01-27T09:20:23Z")
I forget the technical term for this - but sometimes one program will automatically take the focus of your system and display itself on top of anything you were working on without being commanded. Anyway, when I switched from 98 to 2k, I remember that the problem seemed to dissapear - win2k didn’t acknowledge the programs’ request to steal focus. However, lately, a few programs (most notably IE - maybe microsoft let’s it’s own software take priority?), but sometimes other programs, have been able to steal focus. Is there any way to absolutely disable this in win2k? ---
**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-keep-programs-from-stealing-attention-in-win2k/151208/2 "2003-01-27T11:46:01Z")
Yeah, that is annoying. [This](http://searchwin2000.techtarget.com/tip/1,289483,sid1_gci818731,00.html) page seems to provide a solution via changing the registry, or if that’s not what you’re after, I believe Tweak UI provides a fix of sorts too. Hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![tourbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tourbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tourbot)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-keep-programs-from-stealing-attention-in-win2k/151208/3 "2003-01-27T15:58:03Z")
This is my main reason for using TweakUI on any 98 PC I use. I’m curious about the solution of setting the ForegroundLockTimeout to 200000 though… does this mean that the app will steal the focus after 200 seconds? Wouldn’t that be just as bad, only more confusing? Or is 200000 some magic number that means never? What happens if you set it to 200001? Interestingly, 200000 appears to be the default setting in WinXP. ---
**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-keep-programs-from-stealing-attention-in-win2k/151208/4 "2003-01-27T16:48:29Z")
**tourbot** , Basically, the “ForegroundLockTimeout” setting value (E.g. 0 or 200000) is the amount of time that must elapse after the last user input, before a program can steal focus. This means that if, for example, Internet Explorer tried to steal focus, it would only be allowed if the time limit had passed since the last user activity. If that time hadn’t yet passed, the dirty focus stealing would fail and IE would be restricted to flashing down on the taskbar. The default is indeed set to 200000 (200 seconds) in Windows XP, but 0 in 2000 and 98. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-keep-programs-from-stealing-attention-in-win2k/151208/5 "2003-01-27T17:38:34Z")
THANK YOU!!! I never knew this was an option, I just resigned myself to it. THANKS!