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Clicking on a Window does not move it to the foreground in Windows 11 Pro

Sam Sayegh 20 Reputation points
2025-07-30T20:23:52.69+00:00

I've had this problem for months now and I'm surprised Microsoft hasn't fixed it yet after all the updates I applied. Also tried what people have already suggested with no luck! This started when AI became heavily part of the software. Basically, the Windows Explorer and Outlook instances often don't come to the foreground when selected. When this happens, the only way to make them come forward is by selecting them thru the Alt-Tab combination.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Windows update
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  1. Jeronimo Fuerte 38,485 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-07-31T00:57:37.99+00:00

    Hi! Sorry to hear you have troubles with this, Windows by default blocks background apps from popping to the front. Setting ForegroundLockTimeout to 0 lets a clicked window come forward immediately:

    1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
    2. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
    3. In the right pane, double-click ForegroundLockTimeout, select Decimal, and set its value to 0.
    4. If the entry doesn’t exist, right-click > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it ForegroundLockTimeout, and then edit it as above.
    5. Double-click ForegroundFlashCount and set it to 0.
    6. Sign out or reboot your computer.

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