# Win XP - something is stealing focus **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448 "2009-11-30T07:54:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Random\_Design](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58f4c7/32.png) [@Random\_Design](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random_Design)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/1 "2009-11-30T07:54:55Z")
How can I figure out what app is stealing window focus randomly? Every so often I’ll be typing along, in Firefox, Outlook etc., and I look up and see the last line never came out because what was the active window has become inactive, even though nothing seems to have become active in its place. Really annoying! ---
**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:** [November 30, 2009, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/2 "2009-11-30T08:55:42Z")
FWIW this has been happening to me, too. Very new and very random. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/3 "2009-11-30T18:16:08Z")
Try opening Task Manager and put it on the “Processes” tab. Keep this window open while you are typing along and when the focus is lost, look and see what process is at the top. ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/4 "2009-11-30T19:28:46Z")
Do you use AVG? The newest version of AVG Free started causing this for me. I had to uninstall it to get rid of the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/5 "2009-11-30T20:04:12Z")
**Spectralist** , I think you may have it. I too just starting having this problem and I too am using the newest AVG. Here is some more info: [Link](http://forums.avg.com/ww-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=42713) ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/6 "2009-11-30T21:54:43Z")
This has been driving me crazy on a few different computers. It might be AVG as others have suggested, but one PC Im using that does this is running Microsoft Security Essentials. I think its a firefox issue. It tends to happen when Im typing in firefox text boxes and focus disappears or my cursor moves back 15-30 characters randomly. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/7 "2009-12-01T01:08:41Z")
So _that’s_ what’s been f\*\*\*ing up my computer the last week or so. I thought I had a virus. I’m sure this is it. Off to do an uninstall, then reinstall. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/8 "2009-12-01T01:10:21Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > So _that’s_ what’s been f\*\*\*ing up my computer the last week or so. I thought I had a virus. I’m sure this is it. > > Off to do an uninstall, then reinstall. I’m being lazy… will you let us know if it worked? ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/9 "2009-12-01T03:27:21Z")
This is really strange. I was going to post something but hadn’t gotten around to it. It isn’t firefox because I don’t keep it open all the time. But it happens when I am playing games in full screen (non-windowed) to, causing the game to minimize. There are other times when it happens, too. I am going to go with the others and guess that it might be AVG causing it. It seems like a new version came out not too long ago. Bob ---
**Author:** ![Random\_Design](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58f4c7/32.png) [@Random\_Design](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random_Design)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/10 "2009-12-01T06:38:59Z")
> [@Spectralist](#): > > Do you use AVG? The newest version of AVG Free started causing this for me. I had to uninstall it to get rid of the problem. Ding-ding-ding! I upgraded about 10 days ago I think. Sigh… off to uninstall, reinstall… Thanks man. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/11 "2009-12-01T13:06:07Z")
I applied this [fix](http://forums.avg.com/cz-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=41015#post_41015)last night and it \*seems \*to have worked so far. No uninstall/reinstall. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/win-xp-something-is-stealing-focus/519448/12 "2009-12-03T03:27:37Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I applied this [fix](http://forums.avg.com/cz-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=41015#post_41015)last night and it \*seems \*to have worked so far. No uninstall/reinstall. Worked great for me also. Bob