# Why is Windows stealing my focus. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746 "2014-05-19T17:14:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/1 "2014-05-19T17:14:26Z")
By focus, I mean the the wndow that displays in front and recieves mouse/keyboard input. I’ve got a new Windows 7 laptop. From time to time, many once or twice an hour, the focus will switch off of the window I working in to … somewhere else. I haven’t quite worked it out yet. If I’m typing, those keystrokes are lost. If I’m playing a game that takes the whole screen, that game will shrink to an icon and then, nothing. I can click the game icon open and continue on as normal. This happens even if I have no other application running, so it must be some kind of background process. Have I missed a setting somewhere that let’s windows take over control of the screen whenever it wants? ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/2 "2014-05-19T17:41:19Z")
Maybe you’re somehow hitting a keystroke shortcut. Usually when my screen and windows mess up its because I accidentally hit some double-key shortcut. That’s all I got. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/3 "2014-05-19T17:58:14Z")
What actual programs are you running when this happens, and in what window does the cursor end up? IME there are certain programs that like to steal focus under some circumstances. I doubt whether it is Windows itself that is responsible. ---
**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/4 "2014-05-19T18:49:57Z")
Does the laptop have a touchpad? I’ve had to turn the touch pad off for a few users here at our company as they would ‘brush’ it somehow with their wrist(s) while typing. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/5 "2014-05-19T18:54:36Z")
It is most noticeable when I’m playing a game full screen and no other program (that I started) is running. Of course, there are all kinds of processes running at any given moment but I keep my startup lean and this is a fairly new computer. No complex shortcut keystokes going on - mostly mouse. The touchpad … now that is a thought. I’ll have to play with it to see if I can replicate the problem. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/6 "2014-05-19T18:59:40Z")
> [@HipGnosis](#): > > Does the laptop have a touchpad? > I’ve had to turn the touch pad off for a few users here at our company as they would ‘brush’ it somehow with their wrist(s) while typing. Yeah, my guess would be a touchpad “gesture” type of shortcut. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/7 "2014-05-20T01:42:01Z")
I have this happen on my laptop, as well. The ‘click’ option on the touchpad is disabled. Typically I’m in a web browser reading something, and the window just looses focus. It doesn’t minimize the window, though…just acts as if I clicked on the desktop on the background or something like that, even though my mouse pointer is within the browser window. Something else is grabbing focus. Virus scans and such are clean. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/8 "2014-05-20T02:07:32Z")
I once had a really obnoxious wifi utility that did this. If you can post a screencap of your running programs in the task manager, that’d help narrow it down. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/9 "2014-05-20T04:02:43Z")
It might be an update too (Windows, Acrobat, antivirus, etc.) that pops up and asks DO YOU WANT TO INSTALL ME NOW? And then you’re typing something and it clicks a button fo ryou. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/10 "2014-05-20T21:58:30Z")
Next time this happens, hit Alt+Tab. That will bring up a box showing the active programs running at the time. Usually, the icon on the far left is the one with current focus (the one that just stole your focus). The window will be highlighting (box around it) the 2nd from the right, ready to switch to that one. This should let you see what program is stealing focus. ---
**Author:** ![Fact\_of\_the\_Matter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Fact\_of\_the\_Matter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fact_of_the_Matter)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/11 "2014-05-20T22:50:30Z")
Does your laptop have bluetooth? That was what was causing it on my system. I disabled bluetooth and have not had it happen again. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/12 "2014-05-22T13:42:22Z")
Two more interesting things to try. Thanks. The Alt+Tab is weird. It toggles between windows apparently, so pressing and holding makes Windows zip though all the active windows. I’ve played with this and it isn’t the touchpad, although I do manage to screw things up in other ways with that. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/13 "2014-05-23T01:48:17Z")
The one time I noticed it since this thread started, McAfee showed up as the only other program running. Maybe it launched for a scan or to check for an update or something, and grabbed focus. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/14 "2014-05-23T13:56:27Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Two more interesting things to try. Thanks. The Alt+Tab is weird. It toggles between windows apparently, so pressing and holding makes Windows zip though all the active windows. > > I’ve played with this and it isn’t the touchpad, although I do manage to screw things up in other ways with that. You don’t press and hold both buttons. You press and hold Alt, then press and release tab. Keeping alt held down will keep the list of open windows open. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-windows-stealing-my-focus/688746/15 "2014-05-23T15:00:39Z")
> [@HipGnosis](#): > > Does the laptop have a touchpad? > I’ve had to turn the touch pad off for a few users here at our company as they would ‘brush’ it somehow with their wrist(s) while typing. I’m wondering if you’re brushing the cursor down to the lower right somehow. There’s a small box there that by default takes you to peek at your desktop. Right click on it and you can turn off that “peeking” function.