You can focus on a window without left clicking on it by using the middle mouse button. Useful for all kinds of situations. Only recently discovered this.
I guess I don't get it, If I still gotta click a mouse button to get another windows attention, why not just left click it instead of middle click it? Whats the difference at this point?
I know it sounds useless but it's useful for certain situations, like when you are in a program and have objects selected and need to focus a window but doing so will make you lose your selection.
Linux has "focus follows mouse" options - which does exactly that. I can type in a window behind several others, as long as the mouse can get to that window - and doesn't raise unless that option is selected. This is very useful for a) not disturbing the desktop and b) using the behind window to update an infront window.
There used to be an addon for windows that allowed that too - but haven't looked into it for 10 or 11.
I saw an app for this for windows but I'm not going to say what it is because a lot of these tweaking programs end up being spyware.
Here is how it's done (all the app does is do this for you...).
In control panel / Ease of Access Center / Make the mouse easier to use link / Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse (turn it on).
It focuses the window by hovering over it.
Then go into regedit HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and find "UserPreferencesMask". Double click on it to see the values. These values are usually different on each computer.
Then open up calculator and set it to programmer mode. Click the "3 bars" icon top left and select Programmer. You need to subtract 40 bits from the hex value. Next select "HEX" on the left side. Enter the first hex value then minus 40.
Go back to regedit and double click on the first hex value. Enter the result of the calculation.
Example: 6C-40= 2C. You would enter 2C into the hex value in regedit.
Then you need to restart or sign out the user and sign back in. You can change the speed of the focus in regedit too (ActiveWndTrkTimeout).
Funny how linux has a little drop down for "focus follow mouse" and a windows user has to jump through hoops to make his desktop the way he wants it...
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[ + ] localsal
[ - ] localsal 0 points 6 monthsOct 14, 2023 13:48:35 ago (+0/-0)
Linux has "focus follows mouse" options - which does exactly that. I can type in a window behind several others, as long as the mouse can get to that window - and doesn't raise unless that option is selected. This is very useful for a) not disturbing the desktop and b) using the behind window to update an infront window.
There used to be an addon for windows that allowed that too - but haven't looked into it for 10 or 11.
[ + ] Monica
[ - ] Monica 0 points 6 monthsOct 14, 2023 14:55:36 ago (+0/-0)
Here is how it's done (all the app does is do this for you...).
In control panel / Ease of Access Center / Make the mouse easier to use link / Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse (turn it on).
It focuses the window by hovering over it.
Then go into regedit HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and find "UserPreferencesMask". Double click on it to see the values. These values are usually different on each computer.
Then open up calculator and set it to programmer mode. Click the "3 bars" icon top left and select Programmer.
You need to subtract 40 bits from the hex value. Next select "HEX" on the left side. Enter the first hex value then minus 40.
Go back to regedit and double click on the first hex value. Enter the result of the calculation.
Example: 6C-40= 2C. You would enter 2C into the hex value in regedit.
Then you need to restart or sign out the user and sign back in. You can change the speed of the focus in regedit too (ActiveWndTrkTimeout).
[ + ] localsal
[ - ] localsal 2 points 6 monthsOct 14, 2023 15:57:08 ago (+2/-0)
Funny how linux has a little drop down for "focus follow mouse" and a windows user has to jump through hoops to make his desktop the way he wants it...
[ + ] Monica
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[ + ] lord_nougat
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