Mousing over second monitor for immediate focus.

[ajn03001]

Hey. I was wondering if there was anything available to do this using 1 computer, 1 account each on two monitors.

Basically, I run each account maximized on 1 screen each. I want to be able to just move my mouse over to any monitor and WITHOUT having to do that one extra CLICK fo bring focus to it to play, so that everything is seemless.

Is there a software that enables me to do this? THIS will save me soooo much money. Like. It will determine whether I use 1 PC (upgrade!) or build a whole another (crappy) one using more power,noise, heat etc.

Please , please help, and thanks for the info!

[Tonuss]

Windows Vista does this automatically via a setting in the control panel. (Search for "mouse works" in the CP search, if I remember correctly)

The window switch is not instantaneous, it's about 0.5 seconds or so. Not seamless, but it works once you get used to the short delay, and it beats clicking the window for focus, IMO.

For Windows XP I know that there are utilities or power tools. Google something like "Windows XP focus mouseover" and you should find what you are looking for.

[ajn03001]

Ah, I'll try that. Doesn't Keyclone have something called "auto focus over" option that does something like this? I;m not sure, is that instantaneous?
Hmm, I can't seem to find "mouse works in the vista CP .

[Freddie]

This feature is part of the operating system. You don't need a third party program for this unless you want to toggle the feature off and on with a hotkey.

To turn this on or off with Windows (in Vista), go to Control Panel : Ease of Access Center : Make the Mouse Easier to Use : Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse.

If you want to toggle this setting off and on with a hotkey, you can do that with HotkeyNet using its SetActiveWindowTracking command.

Microsoft's name for this feature (in the operating system API) is Active Window Tracking.

MouseWorks is a third-party utility published by Kensington. You don't need it for this.

[Freddie]

I just tested this under Vista and discovered that in Vista, Microsoft sets the default delay for this feature to a high value. That's why Tonuss is seeing a delay. With XP the delay is set to zero (at least that has been true on every XP system I've tested) so it's faster.

The delay can be changed in Vista (and presumably set to zero) by editing the registry or with a third-party program.

There may also be a way to set the delay with Control Panel but I don't see it there.

[keyclone]

Doesn't Keyclone have something called "auto focus over" option that does something like this?

yes, keyclone has 'focus-follows-mouse' under keyclone/setup/general

[Moorea]

What's the registry key path ?

[Freddie]

I added a new command to HotkeyNet in build 175 so people can set the delay to zero and make this work as fast in Vista as it does in XP. The command is used in a hotkey like this:

<Hotkey F1>
   <SetActiveWindowTrackingDelay 0>
   <SetActiveWindowTracking on>

The documentation is here:

http://hotkeynet.com/ref/setactivewi...kingdelay.html

What's the registry key path ?

I don't know but you can probably find out by googling the API names which are used to change those settings programmatically. They are:

SPI_SETACTIVEWINDOWTRACKING
SPI_SETACTIVEWNDTRKTIMEOUT

[Thulos]

I added a new command to HotkeyNet in build 175 so people can set the delay to zero and make this work as fast in Vista as it does in XP. The command is used in a hotkey like this:

Freddie, do these commands work in xp as well? Would be nice to send this to both of my computers at the same time to turn it on and off as well as change the delay.

[Freddie]

Yep they work in XP too. (In XP the delay is already zero by default so you don't have to set it, but it doesn't hurt anything if you set it.)

By the way the operating system has a third setting in this family of features that determines whether the window comes to the foreground or merely receives focus without coming to the foreground. I've never bothered implementing this in HotkeyNet but it could be added easily if anyone wants it.