# Preventing applications from stealing focus **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150 "2007-06-15T18:50:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/1 "2007-06-15T18:50:35Z")
It’s driving me bananas. I’m running Windows XP Home. I’ve already set the option in TweakUI, and also changed the “foregroundlocktimeout” value to 10000000, and applications STILL steal focus–the offenders most often are Eudora (which I leave running to check email regularly) and Semagic (which I usually minimize after posting to LJ and just forget about until it steals focus while I’m playing a game to tell me a friend has a birthday coming up). Google is failing me; all I’m coming up with are the two solutions I’ve already tried. Is there anything else I can do? ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/2 "2007-06-15T20:33:28Z")
If it’s a web application running from IE or something, you can’t prevent it that I am aware of. Because it’s considered a different instance of the same application, it’s allowed to steal focus from itself or anything based on it. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/3 "2007-06-15T21:42:28Z")
Stealing focus is an ugly behavior of Windows apps that gets criticized a lot in forums about programming. None of the items I found talked about how to prevent it, unless you’re the person writing the application that does it. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/4 "2007-06-16T07:44:28Z")
In human society, interrupting and demanding immediate attention is rude & obnoxious behavior, but most people outgrow this about age 5 or 6. Bill Gates, however, decided to build this in as the default behavior in Windows. So it’s very hard to change that. If the programmer of each application went to extra effort, they can make it possible to change this. Good programmers do; many others don’t. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/5 "2007-06-16T07:50:14Z")
Eudora steals focus in two ways - when it opens a new mail folder window (when a new message is filtered into a folder, that folder window will open), or when it encounters an error and the error message window opens. There is no way to stop it, beyond having those offending windows open at all times. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/6 "2007-06-16T13:23:11Z")
Foo. Well, thanks for the info, anyway, everybody. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/7 "2007-06-16T15:31:57Z")
I tick the box in TweakUI that says “Prevent Applications from stealing Focus” Always worked for me. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/8 "2007-06-16T19:28:02Z")
Yeah. Like I said in the OP, I already did that. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/9 "2007-06-16T20:55:58Z")
Stealing focus? Is this the official name for “I want to open Internet Explorer and check my email because my boss is on the interstate RIGHT NOW and needs to know what exit to take because he thought he was too manly to need directions to the airport but is now late getting to the airport for his plane to Turkey where an angel investor is going to give him five million dollars which will save all our butts for the next year but only if he’s there in person, but Windows is too busy rearranging its tailfeathers to heed my command”? Because that has been bugging me more than usual in the last few weeks. Or maybe it’s just the boss. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/10 "2007-06-16T21:32:58Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] In human society, interrupting and demanding immediate attention is rude & obnoxious behavior, but most people outgrow this about age 5 or 6. Bill Gates, however, decided to build this in as the default behavior in Windows. So it’s very hard to change that. If the programmer of each application went to extra effort, they can make it possible to change this. Good programmers do; many others don’t. [/QUOTE] Bill Gates personally designed Windows? I hate him more than ever. If only Mahatma Gandhi had been CEO of the leading software company. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/11 "2007-06-18T04:19:00Z")
I won’t be able to help you with a universal fix (TweakUI tends to be the best suggestion in this case; unfortunately, as you said, it just ain’t working for you), but if you have a recent version of Eudora (specifically, version 7), have you tried minimizing it to the system tray? When it’s in that mode, it won’t steal focus; instead, you’ll just be relying on the Eudora tray icon to alert you when you receive new mail. It’s what I always use; plus, it frees up space on the taskbar. To activate it, click: **Tools | Options | Display | Minimize Eudora to the system tray**. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/12 "2007-06-18T06:12:40Z")
I like opening two or three programs at once, then watch as they fight with each other for focus. It’s kinda like a little game, all the thrills of dog racing without the smelly track (and you don’t win any money). Of course, you can’t actually do anything useful with the computer while this is happening, but it can at least provide some entertainment while you are stuck there accomplishing nothing. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/13 "2007-06-18T14:19:05Z")
Also in Eudora 7 you can go to TOOLS - OPTIONS - GETTING ATTENTION and un-check everything there. And then go to BACKGROUND TASKS and un-check “Bring error window to front” and “Bring task status window to front.” I have Eudora 7 running 24 hours a day on my work machine, and I get hundreds of emails and a handful of errors all day long. It never, ever steals focus. I use the “free, with ads” version, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/14 "2007-06-18T14:33:45Z")
[QUOTE=SkipMagic] I won’t be able to help you with a universal fix (TweakUI tends to be the best suggestion in this case; unfortunately, as you said, it just ain’t working for you), but if you have a recent version of Eudora (specifically, version 7), have you tried minimizing it to the system tray? When it’s in that mode, it won’t steal focus; instead, you’ll just be relying on the Eudora tray icon to alert you when you receive new mail. It’s what I always use; plus, it frees up space on the taskbar. To activate it, click: **Tools | Options | Display | Minimize Eudora to the system tray**. [/QUOTE] Oh! Skippy, you are my heeeero. The weird thing about Eudora has been that it doesn’t steal focus all the time, just every once in a while, and I never paid enough attention to notice if there was some specific combination of programs that made it do that. 90% of the time, Eudora would be a nice little program and just play its sound when new mail came in, but that 10 when it was rude and pushy was really irritating. This tray option will be just the ticket, I think. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/15 "2007-06-18T14:50:26Z")
Well, in my experience, if you simply minimize Eudora, it doesn’t steal focus regardless of errors, incoming mail, filtering, etc… But if you don’t minimize it; if you leave the Eudora window open and simply move on to another program, you’re allowing Eudora to steal focus once something new happens. For me, minimizing it (regardless of whether it’s minimized to the system tray) takes care of the focus problem. **ZipperJJ** ’s suggestion would also work as a solution, but I like my mailboxes opening after being filtered, so I leave that option checked in the “Getting Attention” section of the Options, and I just remember to minimize Eudora when I don’t want it to steal focus. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus/408150/16 "2007-06-18T18:34:09Z")
[QUOTE=Geobabe] 90% of the time, Eudora would be a nice little program and just play its sound when new mail came in. [/QUOTE] You can even adjust that, so that it only plays sound for non-SPAM email. Anything that your Eudora SPAM filters catch will be routed to your SPAM mailbox, but silently! I find that silence a blessed relief. I really don’t need to know everytime some SPAM arrives.