Mouse Over To Activate A Window in Windows 7

For a while now I’ve been using a computer with Windows 7 and there was one behaviour that was driving me nuts. If I opened up a window that didn’t fill the screen, say using Notepad to view a text file, within seconds, the window would disappear. The window below it would now come to the front. To avoid this problem, I had to quickly move the mouse over the new window before it would disappear and more times than not, it would disappear.

I never had this problem with other versions of Windows. There had to be some setting to change the behaviour. You’d think it had something to do with the appearance settings, but no. It’s in the mouse settings.

From the Control Panel, click on “Ease of Access.”

Then click on “Change how your mouse works.”

You can toggle “Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse.” When it’s enabled, mousing over a window will bring it to the front.  When it’s off, mousing away from your current window won’t cause it to lose focus. That’s how I want it and problem solved.