Windows keeps losing focus on Windows 7

[Goi]

Hi,

I'm running Windows 7 and my windows keep losing focus once in a while. In fact as I'm typing this, it lost focus and I was unable to type until I click back on the browser window.

How can I fix this?

Thanks!

 

[Bubbaleone]

Probably an application or service is starting up silently in the background and taking the focus. I'd look at Task Scheduler first, and see if something's set to run on a schedule; other than normal Microsoft maintenance tasks.

If you don't see anything obvious, the next step would be to perform a clean boot and see if the problem ceases. If it does; then you start re-enabling one item at a time, followed by a reboot, until the problem re-appears.

The last item you enabled (program, service, or driver) will be the cause of your windows losing focus, and will need to be either updated, disabled, or uninstalled. It's a PITA, but it's the only way to positively identify the culprit that I know of.

EDIT: There's a third possibility you may want to eliminate before having to go through the PITA clean boot procedure; MALWARE! Run a thorough scan with Malwarebytes and/or ComboFix.


.

 

[lryman2000zxc]

I run windows 8.1 64 bit and for me the problem was the HP Digital Imaging Monitor. I disabled it from startup and all was fine.

 

[jhansman]

the HP Digital Imaging Monitor.

This is a huge PITA and ought to be done away with. All HP software (especially for scannng) is pernicious and pretty much useless.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I run windows 8.1 64 bit and for me the problem was the HP Digital Imaging Monitor. I disabled it from startup and all was fine.

I despise the HP Digi Imaging Monitor. I'm trying to remember how I finally got rid of it a couple months ago: whether it was simply "uninstalled" or disabled with MSConfig.

I could "get political" and try blaming HP's bloatware on a certain failed US Senate candidate, but this is a general trend we find in software and hardware going back more than a decade or two. [And b**** didn't know anything about the technology itself, or the human capital she chose to outsource in the tens of thousands so she could squeeze out her $300M golden-handshake. So she's off the hook here.]

They have two motivations: Make things "automatic" and easy for a customer base so befuddled that they can't even pick a free IP address within their subnet and enter it on a keyboard, and promote sales of ink cartridges and other things. I recently posted a thread about Nuance software, which has a more offensive and high-profile way of doing the same thing.

I also remember when EarthLink and other ISPs began providing "software" that would automatically configure an internet connection. Afterwards, you needed special tools to clean out the unnecessary bloat-ware. Usually, the mainstreamers who took the bait and installed the bloatware couldn't see the misery down the pike.