Is there any way to stop applications from stealing focus (Win 10 Pro)?

Question

Is there any way to stop applications from stealing focus? I'm using Windows 10 Pro.

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

Yes, in Windows 10 Pro, you can prevent applications from stealing focus by modifying the registry. However, please note that editing the registry can be risky if you're not careful. Make sure to back up your registry before making any changes.

Here are the steps:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
3. Navigate to the following path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
4. Look for a value named ForegroundLockTimeout. If it doesn’t exist, you will have to create it.
5. Right-click on the right pane, select New, then DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it ForegroundLockTimeout.
6. Double-click on ForegroundLockTimeout and set its value to 30d40 (Hexadecimal) or 200000 (Decimal).
7. Click OK and close the Registry Editor.
8. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

This setting should help prevent applications from stealing focus. However, be aware that not all applications respect this setting, especially older or poorly designed ones.

I hope the information above is helpful.

Best Regards,

Yanhong Liu

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