Focus stealing is sometimes due to malicious programming by the software developer that’s doing it. Most of the time, however, it’s just buggy software or operating system behavior that you’ll need to pin down and try to fix or avoid.
Can You Stop Programs From Stealing Focus?
Ideally, no other program but the one you’re working in would accept mouse and keyboard input, and the window would stay on top of all the other ones you’re not currently using. Unfortunately, it’s not possible for Windows to block all programs from stealing focus and still work properly—it’s just not built with the brains to understand that. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t have options.
How to Prevent Programs From Stealing Focus in Windows
Once you’ve identified what program needs to be dealt with, work through the troubleshooting below to make it stop happening for good:
More on Stealing Focus in Windows XP
As mentioned at the start of this piece, Windows XP actually allowed for focus stealing if one specific value in the Windows Registry was set in a specific way. You can remove programs in Windows from Control Panel with the Programs & Features applet, but free uninstaller tools work as well.
DeskPins is completely free and lets you “pin” any window, keeping it on top of all others, no matter what. Pinned windows are marked with a red pin and can be “auto-pinned” based on the window’s title. Window On Top is another free program that works in much the same way. Drag the mouse pointer from Window On Top and drop it on a window to make it stay on top. Or, use the Ctrl+F8 hotkey.
Following the short tutorial below, you can manually change that value to the one that prevents programs from stealing focus in Windows XP. From this point forward, programs you run in Windows XP should no longer steal the focus from the window that you’re currently working in. If you’re not comfortable making manual changes to the registry yourself, a program from Microsoft called Tweak UI can do it for you. Once installed, head to Focus under the General area, and check the box to Prevent applications from stealing focus. Honestly, though, if you’re careful, the registry-based process explained above is perfectly safe and effective. You can always use the backup you made to restore the registry if things don’t work out.
