Solved Vista x64 focus steel issue

Dane

Member
Hi everyone

I've been using Vista x64 for about 4 months now and in that time I have been having this problem where Vista sometimes steels the focus from fullscreen apps such as games.

For example: I run a game, the screen goes black for a second (which it does in most games before the intro), then the game minimizes to the system tray and I'm back at the desktop. If i then try to bring the game back to fullscreen (using the mouse or ALT + TAB) it immedially minimizes to the system tray again, some games even crash. In the "micro second" that the game stays maximized I can see that the game has indeed loaded correctly, cos if I maximize the game a couple of times I see that the game is proceeding with the load.

Sometimes a restart helps, at other times a reinstall is needed. Some games I just can't run at all, and some runs fine all the time. :sarc:

Now for what I have tryed:

All drivers, firmware and the BIOS are of the latest versions...
I completely removed my Nvidia display driver using "CCleaner" restarted and installed the latest one.
I tryed removing the "focus steel" ability from Vista using a reg file I found some where (I forget where).
Vista is of course fully updated.

If ANYONE has any idea why this is happening or better yet have a solution, please please post your comments, this really is driving me crazy. By the way, I never had this problem with XP Pro.

Thanks

Edit:
I found the trick I used to prevent the "Focus steel" in Vista.
  1. Open Regedit.exe
  2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
  3. Change the value of “ForegroundLockTimeout” from 17d1d0 to 0030d40
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    mm-vision.dk (XForce)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 3.20GHz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte EX58-UD4P
    Memory
    12Gb Kingston 1333MHz DDR3 CL9 DIMM (6 x 2Gb)
    Graphics Card(s)
    GForce GTX 295
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VX2260wm
    Screen Resolution
    1,920 x 1,080
    Hard Drives
    1 x WD VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150 GB 10000rpm
    2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5 TB 7200rpm
    PSU
    Corsair TX750W
    Case
    SilverStone KL01B-W
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Roccat VALO
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    12Mbit / 1Mbit
I don't know why this thread is set to "solved", cos it is not!!!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    mm-vision.dk (XForce)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 3.20GHz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte EX58-UD4P
    Memory
    12Gb Kingston 1333MHz DDR3 CL9 DIMM (6 x 2Gb)
    Graphics Card(s)
    GForce GTX 295
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VX2260wm
    Screen Resolution
    1,920 x 1,080
    Hard Drives
    1 x WD VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150 GB 10000rpm
    2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5 TB 7200rpm
    PSU
    Corsair TX750W
    Case
    SilverStone KL01B-W
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Roccat VALO
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    12Mbit / 1Mbit
I think I finally found the problem...

It was a gadget in the Vista sidebar, at least I think so.

Anyway, the problem has'ent returned yet...
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    mm-vision.dk (XForce)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 3.20GHz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte EX58-UD4P
    Memory
    12Gb Kingston 1333MHz DDR3 CL9 DIMM (6 x 2Gb)
    Graphics Card(s)
    GForce GTX 295
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VX2260wm
    Screen Resolution
    1,920 x 1,080
    Hard Drives
    1 x WD VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150 GB 10000rpm
    2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5 TB 7200rpm
    PSU
    Corsair TX750W
    Case
    SilverStone KL01B-W
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Roccat VALO
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    12Mbit / 1Mbit
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