Do you have your mouse set to go to "snap to"?
Yes I
did, and of course that compounds the problem as I risk pushing the wrong button with a mouse-click that was intended for the app I was working in before the dialog box popped up, and I have since unchecked this snap-to option.
But dialog boxes still pop up, of course, whenever some app other than the one I'm currently working in requires my input, and I would like to not be disturbed like that as it is ruinous to whatever concentration I can muster for the task at hand.
It is often a system process that requires attention this way or that. I grew up with television and as a result have a tiny little attention span.
Like this; imagine that you are writing something with a pen on a sheet of paper on a desk in the real world, concentrating as best you can to get spelling, grammar and disposition right and suddenly another sheet is slipped on top of that one by an invisible hand, and suddenly you find yourself making the corrections and additions intended for the first sheet on the sheet that is now in focus. 'See what I mean, jelly bean?
That's what throws me and wastes my time and sorely needed attention. I don't know if I have managed to explain the problem, but that's how I see it. There is a reason pop-up windows are called just that and why they annoy people - they steal focus from the thing you were doing just before in the advertisers hope that your attention will immediately shift to their sales pitch.
It seems this focus-stealing business calls for a pop-up blocker for the OS itself
Here's a screen-shot to illustrate:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/24/stealfocus3.jpg/
Anyhoo, I am willing to let the matter rest for now as it is not that big a problem, just an annoyance. Thanks for bearing with me, though.