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Windows 7: Mouse Hover Makes Window Active - Enable


Mouse Hover Makes Window Active - Enable

How to Activate a Window by Hovering Over it with the Mouse Pointer
Published 07 May 2009
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How to Activate a Window by Hovering Over it with the Mouse Pointer

information   Information
This will allow you to Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse pointer for a second to make it easier to switch between open windows.


hello all.
I've been reading this great forum passively for a short while now, its quite the wonderful resource.
what i could not find, though, was information on how to focus on windows by simply hovering over them with the mouse.

Back in XP, you could enable this with Tweak UI, which called it X-mouse.
It was great, i didn't have to click on a window to work in it.
but how to enable this in 7?



OPTION #1
As this article points out, you can switch windows by hovering if you enable it through:
Control Panel> Ease of Access> Change How Your Mouse Works
scroll down, check box "Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse"
this method raises windows to the front when you hover over them.
Mouse Hover Makes Window Active - Enable-eac.jpg
OPTION #2
For a true X-mouse experience, you could use this third party software TXMouse:
True X-Mouse Gizmo for Windows
if you are familiar with Linux x-mouse behaviour, you might appreciate its other functions.




OPTION #3
If you don't need those extra functions, you can make a couple swift changes in the registry and achieve the same effect:
[Thanks to original commenter unpaidbill for this particular option]
Step #1:
Open regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Edit UserPreferenceMask value to be 9F 3E 07 80 12 00 00 00
[You should only have to modify the first pair]
NOTE: Default value is 98 12 07 80 12 00 00 00.

Step #2:
Also in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Edit ActiveWndTrkTimeout, change 'Base' to Decimal and put in 150 as the 'Value Data'
NOTE: Default value is 500.

[this value is time in milliseconds that it takes for the focus to change.
to avoid some issues with the taskbar I recommended using a value like 150 or so,
but if you'd like to have a different delay before the window loses focus, set it to whatever you like.]

Step #3:
Log off and log back in
information   Information
(Added by John Galt)

Here is the registry key to do that if you don't want to edit the registry yourself. Hover window select.reg

Here is the registry key to restore the default values. Default Windows hover.reg



This results in windows being active (but not being raised) when you hover over them.








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07 May 2009  
andythecurefan

 

Option #1 seems the simplest, why would people even bother with Option #3?



Thanks for the tutorial, just tried it out and now I know what you mean about "hovering makes window active".
My System SpecsSystem Spec

07 May 2009  
skzap

 

option 3 rocks

great job
My System SpecsSystem Spec
07 May 2009  
gabeforprez

 

Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by andythecurefan View Post
Option #1 seems the simplest, why would people even bother with Option #3?
so that you can type and scroll in a window that is not in the foreground.
option 1 brings the windows forward, while option 3 does not.
its convenient that way, but you have to be aware of where your mouse is on the screen.


Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by skzap View Post
option 3 rocks

great job
thanks skzap.
I wanted to make a .reg file so that you didn't have to edit the registry if you didn't want to, but i don't know how lol.

can anyone help me to that end?
then there can be an Undo .reg file as well

[which reminds me, I didn't make a backup of those registry values lol. can someone provide the original values?]
My System SpecsSystem Spec
.


07 May 2009  
Mark

 

Here you go, they are both in Reg files. By the way I really like option 3, it now works just how I always thought it should, good job.

Hover window select.reg

Default Windows hover.reg

I edited the files to include only the changes from gabeforprez's initial post, and they are exactly as he mentions.

The default restores the default values to those 2 keys as they normally appear in Windows, and the Hover changes the values of those two keys only to the values suggested by gabe. -johnlgalt

Last edited by johngalt; 27 Nov 2009 at 06:36 PM..
My System SpecsSystem Spec
07 May 2009  
skzap

 

in regedit you have an export option, then open the created file with notepad and remove the useless lines.

I don't have the original either.

The delay time is in millisec? I need to change it, 0 millisecs causes some minor annoyances here
My System SpecsSystem Spec
07 May 2009  
gabeforprez

 

Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by Mr GRiM View Post
Here you go, they are both in Reg files. By the way I really like option 3, it now works just how I always thought it should, good job.

Attachment 10005

Attachment 10006

Yes! Exactly!
thank you a bunch Mr GRiM!
My System SpecsSystem Spec
07 May 2009  
gabeforprez

 

Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by skzap View Post
The delay time is in millisec? I need to change it, 0 millisecs causes some minor annoyances here
actually a slight delay would be nice.
knowing that the option is there is nice too.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
07 May 2009  
Nikolay

 

Quote:
Step #2:
Also in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Edit ActiveWndTrkTimeout, change 'Base' to Decimal and put in 0 as the 'Value Data'
When I change the Base to Decimal, it reverts back to hex when I close the window out. I tried the .reg file that grim has provided but it also did not work, yes I did log off.

Edit: Is it supposed to deselect the last open window and when you move the cursor it goes back? I was hoping it would open the window you hover over. Also, why did my wallpaper disappear when I logged back in?

Edit 2: Oohhh I understand now. Sorry, my head wasn't working.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
07 May 2009  
Mark

 

Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by Nikolay View Post
When I change the Base to Decimal, it reverts back to hex when I close the window out. I tried the .reg file that grim has provided but it also did not work, yes I did log off.

Yeah my value was already set to 0 for some reason, but as far as it changing back, that's what it is meant to do, you are just changing it to decimal to set the value. What was your original value for the delay gabeforprez?
My System SpecsSystem Spec
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