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Gazette Reader Jamie T. from the UK writes: " Dear Dennis, When I hover my mouse pointer over a window, it automatically brings that window to the front. I don't understand why this happening all the sudden. I can't seem to find any settings in the Control Panel where I can stop the mouse from stealing focus. Can you help? "
My response: The mouse focus setting may be the result of a program you recently installed. At any rate, you can adjust mouse focus (enable or disable) it with a freeware Microsoft utility, called TweakUI (a part of the PowerToys collection). A download link will follow at the end of this article. Once TweakUI is installed to your system, initiate it. Assuming you're running Windows XP, click Start -> Programs -> PowerToys for Windows XP -> TweakUI to launch the program. There are two options in TweakUI you can change to adjust the mouse focus: 1. Expand the 'Mouse' category on the far left, and click the sub-category 'X-Mouse.' In the right-hand panel, ensure that Activation follows X-Mouse is *not* enabled. Note that when x-mouse style window activation *is* enabled, you need only move the mouse into the window in order to give it focus (normally you must click on a window in order to give it focus). 2. Expand the 'General' category and click on the sub-category 'Focus.' In the right-hand panel, check the box labeled "Prevent applications from stealing focus" and set a preference for how many times you want the Window to flash when an event occurs. To download PowerToys
/ TweakUI for Windows NT, 9x, ME, and 2000: http://www.infopackets.com/articles/powertoys.htm To start TweakUI, go to the Control Panel (Start -> Settings -> Control Panel). And for Windows XP: http://www.infopackets.com/articles/powertoys_xp.htm To start TweakUI, use the TweakUI shortcut in your Start Menu (not the Control Panel), or run \windows\system32\tweakui.exe.
-- Related newsletter articles:
2004/10/06 Substitute for a computer mouse? (mouse)
2004/10/13 Substitute for a computer mouse?, Part 2 (mouse)
2002/11/26 Mouse is frozen sometimes in Windows XP?, Part 2 (mouse)
2005/11/02
Mouse (Computing) (mouse)
2002/10/03 How to clean a mouse to ensure proper operation (mouse)
2003/05/29 Sound card distortion while Scrolling Mouse? (mouse)
2003/06/03 Sound card distortion while Scrolling Mouse?, Part 2 (mouse)
2003/06/05 Wrong File Type Association, Part 2 (control panel)
2005/09/07 Windows Control Panel (control panel)
2004/09/28 Share Files and Folders using Windows XP? (control panel)
2003/06/16 Remove shortcut arrows from icons? (control panel)
2003/07/29 Windows Theme Software (control)
2002/10/29 Uninstall MSN Messenger for Windows XP (control)
2003/12/23 Uninstall Desktop Theme? (control)
2005/09/10 USB (control)
2002/10/23 Parental Control Filtering Software, Part 1 (control)
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