Windows 7: Brother scanner steals focus with every page

I have an MFC-8860DN from Brother. It has an auto document feeder. Whenever I scan multiple pages, the process completely automatic. When I first purchased the printer/scanner, I was still using XP.

With XP, every time the next page was sucked in, the twain driver would pop up a progress bar showing the scan progress - with a huge "CANCEL" button in the middle. Of course, as you're typing in another application, and the focus jumps to that dialog box, if you hit the space bar, the entire scan job is gone - POOF!

With XP, the TweakUI tool had the capability to "prevent applications from stealing focus" option - and it worked great. Fast forward to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 - same printer/scanner, latest Brother drivers - and the same issue.

I've searched everywhere on how to hack the registry, or install a TweakUI equivalent application (since it no longer works with Windows 7) - but I can't find ANYTHING useful. Supposedly Microsoft has eliminated the registry entry that controlled this issue - and putting it back in does nothing.



I'm so frustrated because this nice, super-fast, multi-tasking OS forces me to sit idly by as I wait for my scans complete.

Does anyone know how to get Windows 7 to respect the focus stealing issue?

I've written to Brother (back when this issue initially happened on XP - it was their suggestion to use TweakUI)...

The "standard" way to prevent programs stealing focus is

1. Use regedit to go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.
2. Double-click on ForegroundLockTimeout and set its value in hexadecimal to 30d40.
3. Press OK and exit regedit.
4. Reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

This does not always work. Microsoft maintains that is the fault of badly written applications. I have a couple of other tweaks somewhere on another machine. Will try and find them and get back to you.

Regards....Mike Connor

Hi Mike, thanks for the quick reply. unfortunately, my ForegroundLockTimout is already set to 30d40...

Since my initial post, I've also downloaded and installed the latest drivers from Brother - rebooted - and retried. No relief.

Here is the second "tweak" which works on some programs;

Open Control Panel. Choose "Ease of Access" then choose "Make mouse easier to use".

Uncheck ‘Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse’ .

Restart your PC.

Regards....Mike Connor

I should have probably put all these details in my original post - but ... I've already gone down that road as well. The option was already unchecked when I went to try.

Got any more

You can use this;

In Autohotkey. It will grab the focus back immediately.

Regards....Mike Connor

That's certainly an idea - but with the time between the dialog box popping up and the unintentional space (or enter) key press being measured in nanosecods, I have reservations whether AHK would be quick enough. Further, when the scanner driver pops up, it also brings the scanning application (i.e. Adobe) on top of everything as well. It's a real cluster.

Apparently it's not limited to Brother - as I've found several upset Epson and HP scanner users who are complaining about the same thing (their cries for help on various other forums - including HP's forum) go unanswered.

I'm beginning to think this is simply 'the way it is' unless I want to get a newer scanner.

Have you checked the scanner's configuration? You mention having gotten and installed an updated driver for the scanner, maybe Brother added a configurable focus option to their software.

Start menu > Devices and Printers. Find the your scanner and go into the properties of it (make sure that it is powered up before going into the properties of it.) Then scour the configurable options for a focus option (if any is to be found.)

It's quick enough. if you compile the script, ( takes seconds, and is easy to do), then it runs directly in machine code.

This is a major problem with a lot of stuff. Microsoft just ignores it and says it is the fault of the programs.

Anyway, that's more or less the end of my bag of tricks, with one exception, run the scanner in a virtual machine like

http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

It can steal whatever it wants there without bothering you.

This has been my last resort in several cases.

Regards....Mike Connor

Newt, this networked scanner doesn't show up in my devices and printers list. It is under imaging devices in the device manager - but there are literally no options there - other than update/uninstall.

I do like the VM idea. I have a sandbox I use for other things. I will give that a go. Excellent band-aid!