Except with my new laptop RW doesn't take many moments to load.
My problem is that when I start a block of time to do game prep I'll open RealmWorks, Hero Labs, Evernote, Google Docs, and a Chrome tab with EN World, and will probably already have Chrome tabs with e-mail open. I have a Phrase express maco that will fire up most of those.
Too many times when I've used macros to open multiple programs I'll be reading through e-mail or trying to respond to an e-mail and program one pops up...so I alt-tab back to e-mail, then program two pops up, ugh, ALT-TAB....then program 3... ARGH WHO THE HELL EVER THOUGHT THIS WAS PROPER BEHAVIOR AND ISN'T THERE A WINDOWS SETTING TO PREVENT THIS MADNESS...and I go into my best Sam Kinison impression, except with fouler language.
Actually, I don't blame the developers of the programs so much...I think that this should be an OS-level preference. Which is was in XP if you were comfortable editing the registry. According to Microsoft moderators on various Windows forums (
example), properly programmed applications *should not* steal focus. But, obviously, Windows still allows this.
Some solutions:
Windows Focus Logger will log all Windows Focus events so that you can determine which application is responsible for stealing focus and allows you to takes actions to prevent that application from stealing focus again.
Always on Top. This doesn't really prevent focus from being stolen but will keep your selected window always on time. This is nice if you have a video playing but need to switch to another app and do not want the video covered. Mainly I use it to keep the calculator app on top of a full sized document like a PDF files, spreadsheet or something.
I have not installed these on my new laptop yet as I try to minimize the number of applications I have start up and run in the background. I reinstall things once reminded how much I need them. Always on Top is less useful when you use multiple monitors. I only miss it when working from a coffee show, airport, etc an am using one screen.