Accessibility Turn On or Off Activate Window by Hovering Over with Mouse Pointer in Windows 11


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mouse_pointer_banner.png

By default in Windows, you need to click/tap on a window to make it active and bring it into focus.

If wanted, you can turn on to activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse pointer for a half second (500 ms).

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse pointer for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11.


Here's How:

1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Ease of Access Center icon.

2 Click/tap on the Make the mouse easier to use link. (see screenshot below)

Hover_to_activate-1.png

3 Check (on) or uncheck (off - default) Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse for what you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

The Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse setting is stored in the UserPreferencesMask binary value in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop registry key for the current user.


Hover_to_activate-2.png

4 You can now close the Control Panel if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink


 

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Scott

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Another useful tutorial. Thank you sir!
 

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Schlermie

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Okay, so now the window focus follows the mouse, but it also pops the focus window on top of all the other windows. Is there a way to make the window focus follow the mouse without it popping the focus window on top of all the other windows? We're now in the year 2023. Why can't Microsoft get this right?
 

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safron

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Thank you for this, Shawn.
The timing seems too immediate for me. Is it possible to modify the trigger to, e.g., 1.5 seconds, before a window is opened on hover?
 

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Brink

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Thank you for this, Shawn.
The timing seems too immediate for me. Is it possible to modify the trigger to, e.g., 1.5 seconds, before a window is opened on hover?

Hello safron, :alien:

There sure is. You can change the ActiveWndTrkTimeout DWORD value below to how many milliseconds (ms) timeout you want.

 

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safron

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Thank you Shawn. Perfect!
 

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Brink

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System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    1TB Samsung 980 PRO M.2,
    6TB WD Black WD6001FZWX
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1
    CPU
    i7-1065G7 3.9 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR4-3200
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Plus
    Sound Card
    Intel SST
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3" 4K UWVA AMOLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium

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