Is There a Solution for Focus-Hungry Apps?

V.Toulias asks: "Over the past few years, I have seen a rise in the percentage of applications installed in my Windows box that do not ask nicely for my attention but force themselves into view when they think they have something important to tell me. Mail clients that pop-up into view when a new email is sent or received, instant messengers that pop up when a new message arrives, browser pop-ups that... pop-up even though the page is loading in a 'background window', informational OS messages, It-seems-that-you're-writing-a-letter app helpers, security warnings and the list goes on. It doesn't take a science study to realize the adverse effects that this phenomenon is causing on your productivity and concentration. So, apart from the obvious suggestion of switching OS, is there any other solution to this disturbing trend?"

Comments

Why not switch your OS?

[BigZaphod]

I understand that you wanted solutions that don't involve switching your OS, but why not entertain some of those, as well? It must not be quite annoying enough to you yet if you won't consider the one move that could probably fix the problem. On Mac OS X it is just about impossible to have this problem. I can't recall a single app off the top of my head that has ever stolen the focus from me since I switched platforms a couple years ago. (that doesn't mean it hasn't happened - but at the least it is so rare that I can't think of an incident right now)

very simple solution

[Danny Rathjens]

Upgrade to linux and/or open source software which rarely behaves so rudely and often has features to prevent others from doing so.

This isn't just a cop-out answer; I'm quite serious. You are essentially complaining about lack of control over what your software does. Well, take control of it!

Use FVWM

[linuxkrn]

In FVWM you can apply "GrabFocusOff" style to those nasty apps. Then you don't have to worry. I did this with gaim so if it wanted to popup a disconnect or new im window it wouldn't steal my focus.