I notice this happening in Windows 2000 all the time.  It's my
belief that Microsoft broke something in the OS code....

  I recall that in 1995, when I still wrote Windows application code
for a living, there was an issue where hiding certain kinds of
control windows without disabling them first -- even if they didn't
currently HAVE the focus -- would cause the focus to jump semi-
randomly.  It required a little bit of extra care to avoid this.

  My hunch is that modern games may only be tested with no other
applications running, so a similar application issue *might* be
getting past the game program makers' QA departments.  But I see
occasional focus isseus with non-game applications as well, which
tends to point my suspicions more toward Redmond.

Dave Gillett


On 10 Feb 2002, at 16:50, A&C Thompson wrote:

> Dear Collective List Wit,
>
> I'm running Win ME and have the following problem - any help appreciated.
>
> While playing a game, (Risk II), the game suddenly loses focus and is sent to the taskbar, and I'm at my
> desktop. This game is not graphic intensive, so my game is not lost - I can click it on the taskbar and the
> game resumes where it left off. However, my brother, whom also runs Win ME, is having the exact same problem,
> but with a different game that is graphic intensive, and his game forces him to start from scratch when it
> loses focus.
>
> The only other time I notice a 'loss of focus' is while I am composing a new email message - (OE 5.5). Again,
> I don't lose the message - OE just grabs the focus. This, for me, is just an annoyance, but for my brother
> it's a real pain to restart the game over and over.
>
> I've tried to think of things that might be causing this problem, and here's what I've come up with:
> - Task Scheduler is disabled
> - Automatic Updates is disabled
>
> I can't think of other info to offer that might help except:
> - No other programs running - other than those in systray and msconfig (using selective startup and have
> unchecked known unimportant startup items).
>
> Any ideas? Anyone? Thanx in advance :)
>
> Al Thompson
>
>       "Hold No Punches.." Rode brings you great shareware/freeware
>         programs with his honest opinions in this weekly column.
>                        http://freepctech.com/rode
>
>

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