# Internet Explorer: Persistent Windows **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-explorer-persistent-windows/188676 "2003-07-15T15:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-explorer-persistent-windows/188676/1 "2003-07-15T15:33:16Z")
This one has bothered me for a loooong time. I often browse places like [Fark.com](http://Fark.com) and the SDMB and in doing so open multiple IE windows. Pages load while I read. Next, one of the pages I just opened will pop up on top of what I am trying to read, very often repeatedly. Is there an easy way to stop this from happening? ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-explorer-persistent-windows/188676/2 "2003-07-15T15:43:50Z")
Microsoft’s TweakUI utility has a **Prevent applications from stealing focus** option which should do the trick. [WinXP version](http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp) [Win9x/ME/NT/2000 version](http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-explorer-persistent-windows/188676/3 "2003-07-15T16:02:16Z")
Absolutely outstanding **Number**! All I was looking for an more, many thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-explorer-persistent-windows/188676/4 "2003-07-15T16:34:54Z")
Heya Bong, I want to suggest another program that you might find helpful… It’s called NetCaptor ( [http://www.netcaptor.com/](http://www.netcaptor.com/) ) Its primary feature is that it arranges your seperate IE windows into one application with tabs, making them much easier to switch between. Look [here](http://www.netcaptor.com/tour/1/) here for a screenshot. If you like having a lot of windows open at a time (as I do), I think that makes them a LOT easier to handle. Instead of having a bunch of them stacked into an unuseable mess on your taskbar, they’re seperated into little tabs with clearly identified names. Among other things, it can also prevent pop-up advertisements from ever showing up, so you don’t have to close them afterwards. I don’t work for them or anything, I just wanted to mention it because I once had the same problem you did and I really liked NetCaptor after I tried it out. But, of course, if you’re already satisfied enough with the TweakUI solution, you don’t have to bother 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-explorer-persistent-windows/188676/5 "2003-07-15T22:26:46Z")
" Its primary feature is that it arranges your seperate IE windows into one application with tabs, making them much easier to switch between. Look here here for a screenshot." Netscape 7+ has that in it already, a nice feature too. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-explorer-persistent-windows/188676/6 "2003-07-15T22:59:22Z")
Opera has it as well, and you can force it so it won’t open pop up windows unless you specifically requested a window (say by clicking on java script). ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-explorer-persistent-windows/188676/7 "2003-07-16T12:02:05Z")
The reason I mentioned NetCaptor was because it uses IE to render its pages, so you’d probably get less compatibility problems than with Opera or Netscape (but of course, you’d also get exposed to IE’s problems)…