Windows 7 and Vista mouse focus on window without raising the window
This is a short guide on how to get Windows 7 and Windows Vista to follow mouse focus without raising the window on top of the other. Very useful when you have many windows on your desktop and want to quickly chose what window to type in. Clicking a window to be able to type, takes to much time IMHO.
Start regedit and go to:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
For full X-Mouse, add +41h to the first number stored in binary key “UserPreferencesMask”.
If you only want “focus follows mouse,” add +1h.
For example, the value for my registry hex key was “9E 3E 07 80 12 00 00 00″
I edited it to “9F 3E 07 80 12 00 00 00″ to get “focus follows mouse”
If I had wanted full X-Mouse, I’d have edited it to “D9 3E 07 80 12 00 00 00″
You can use the built in windows calculator if you like. In my case I would use 9E + 1 = 9F. Picture shows windows 7 calculator with programmer mode.
Roflbong!
Posted on March 8th, 2009 at 3:31 pm | QuoteHave you noticed that activating Windows 7 for focus follows mouse messes up alt tab as well as the task bar?
It seems now the windows don’t consistently come to the foreground when alt-tabbing or clicking the taskbar.
Posted on June 15th, 2009 at 11:30 pm | QuoteJust wanted to say Thanks! Haven’t tried it for long, but can’t stand click for focus.
Posted on October 30th, 2009 at 7:48 pm | QuoteNoticed the same thing as john.
Pretty annoying. Can’t change volume or pin/unpin things to taskbar. The moment I move the mouse to the floating menus, they dissapear.
Posted on November 1st, 2009 at 5:37 pm | QuoteWhat is “full X-Mouse” anyways?
Posted on November 1st, 2009 at 5:38 pm | QuoteStill want to say thanks (and have used this in windows xp successfully) but I have to followup that the focus following mouse does cause the task bar to work incorrectly (cannot right click and then get options)…. any solutions?
jim
Posted on November 3rd, 2009 at 1:40 am | Quote10 seconds later…
in the control panel -> ease of access -> ease of access center -> make the mouse easier to use, there is an option (activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse). This some what gives the feel of focus follows mouse, but sadly also pops the window up (can’t M$ get it right?).
I’ll let you know if I find any other solution.
jim
Posted on November 3rd, 2009 at 1:44 am | Quotehi All,
I found this: http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/9000-how-mouse-hover-makes-window-active.html
which follows the same advice given here, but adds a change to ActiveWndTrkTimeout.
I’ve tested it and (so far) it works for me.
cheers
Posted on November 3rd, 2009 at 2:07 am | Quotejim
Thanks, Jim, for that link… ActiveWndTrkTimeout is in milliseconds, so I found the suggested 150 simply too sluggish. I currently have mine set to 25, and it’s solved most of my taskbar issues while still transferring focus between windows near-instantly.
Cheers!
Posted on November 5th, 2009 at 12:49 am | Quote-drew
I had the same problem. I had set the registry with Vista on my old machine. After setting up Win 7, I used the MS WET to transfer all my files and settings. It moved this X-mouse function too and I found the same troubles you’ve had with the task bar. There are a few ‘work arounds’. After clicking an item in the system tray, try pressing ‘tab’ before moving your mouse to change the volume or whatever. I also found that for ‘more icons’, after clicking the sys tray button once, click and hold the mouse button again. I doesn’t work with other icons since doing so will move them out of the sys tray.
Posted on November 14th, 2009 at 3:08 am | Quote@Jim
ii eas able to get my xmouse , my full xmouse (which is indicated by actualy moving the window with the focus to the foreground as opposed to leaving it in the z order it was when you put th the mo on it. ii prefer it that way.
on another note, regarding the mojse;.l is there a way of keeping the mouse from moving all over the screen when tuyping? i’ve tried hiding the mouse while typing, but it doesn’t help matters with this issue.l the mouse still floats all over the screen. even onto other dinows, thereby moving the focus to those windows. it’s really annoying. anyone?
Posted on November 20th, 2009 at 8:53 am | QuoteHas anyone else experienced the condition where a clean-installed Windows 7 will lose the xmouse setting when the system is connected to via RDP (Remote Desktop)? See http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/bfdfe117-197b-406b-8ae1-34b496bfc7c8 for a detailed description of what I’ve experienced.
Posted on April 2nd, 2010 at 12:33 am | Quote