Newly opened program/email does not open in front

Question

Whenever I open a new email or program I have to minimize what's on the screen to get to it.  It doesn't open in front of what's already opened.   Sometimes a reboot fixes the problem, sometimes it doesn't.

Answer 1

Hi Barbo1000,

Step1: Follow this step and check if it fixes the issue.

Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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How to back up and restore the registry in Windows KB322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/)

1.      Go to start and type regedit.exe.

2.      Navigate to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.

3.      Double click the 'ForegroundLockTimeout' key. Change the notation to decimal.

4.      The default value should be 200000 millisecond in decimal, or 200 seconds. Click OK.

5.      Restart your computer and check if the issue persists.

Step 2: Create a new user account and check if the issue persists.

Refer this link to do the same:

Create a user account

**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Create-a-user-account**

Regards,

Divya R – Microsoft Support.

Answer 2

The decimal value 200000 did not fix the problem for me.  Setting the decimal value to 0 (gleaned from another forum) did fix the problem and now my newly opened programs are brought to the front.

Answer 3

I followed this direction and set the value to 0 and that worked brilliantly. Setting the foreground lock to 200 seconds somehow just didn't seem to be the answer. When I went in to change it the value was set to 200000, so maybe this was just a case of rememory typo.

Answer 4

I have a similar problem under Windows 7 (64 bit).  I have Internet Explorer (8.0.7600.16385) pinned to the taskbar.  My "Home" url is "about:blank".  When I click to launch IE, the window appears (maximized [to the extent Sidebar will allow]) and the Address (URL) "About:blank" is highlighted, but the window does not receive FOCUS (if I start typing, the keyboard input does NOT go to IE).

If IE is already open, and I launch a NEW IE (context menu from taskbar, Internet Explorer) - IE launches AND the focus is set to the new IE (keyboard input DOES go to newly created IE window).

The Registry key (mentioned about) is ALREADY set to ZERO.

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wardmd

Answer 5

Hi Bob K,

Glad to know that your issue has been fixed. Thanks for letting us know the fix that worked for you too. This will help the other forums users too. Post us for any other queries in future.

Regards,

Divya R – Microsoft Support.

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