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.
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).
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.
Contents
- Option One: Turn On or Off Activate Window on Hover by Mouse Pointer in Settings
- Option Two: Turn On or Off Activate Window on Hover by Mouse Pointer in Control Panel
This option is only available starting with Windows 11 build 26100.4202 (24H2).
1 Open Settings (Win+I).
2 Click/tap on Accessibility on the left side, and click/tap on Mouse on the right side under Interaction. (see screenshot below)
3 Turn on or off (default) Activate on hover for what you want. (see screenshot below)
4 You can now close Settings if you like.
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)
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)
4 You can now close the Control Panel if you like.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
Last edited:
