diff --git a/sysdata_windows.go b/sysdata_windows.go
index caac1c1..f3ecffe 100644
--- a/sysdata_windows.go
+++ b/sysdata_windows.go
@@ -87,10 +87,11 @@ var classTypes = [nctypes]*classData{
 		name: toUTF16("STATIC"),
 		// SS_NOPREFIX avoids accelerator translation; SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP clips text past the end
 		// controls are vertically aligned to the top by default (thanks Xeek in irc.freenode.net/#winapi)
-		style:  _SS_NOPREFIX | _SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP | controlstyle,
+		// also note that tab stops are remove dfor labels
+		style:  (_SS_NOPREFIX | _SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP | controlstyle) &^ _WS_TABSTOP,
 		xstyle: 0 | controlxstyle,
 		// MAKE SURE THIS IS THE SAME
-		altStyle:		_SS_NOPREFIX | _SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP | controlstyle,
+		altStyle:		(_SS_NOPREFIX | _SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP | controlstyle) &^ _WS_TABSTOP,
 	},
 	c_listbox: &classData{
 		name: toUTF16("LISTBOX"),
@@ -110,7 +111,8 @@ var classTypes = [nctypes]*classData{
 	},
 	c_progressbar: &classData{
 		name:          toUTF16(x_PROGRESS_CLASS),
-		style:         _PBS_SMOOTH | controlstyle,
+		// note that tab stops are disabled for progress bars
+		style:         (_PBS_SMOOTH | controlstyle) &^ _WS_TABSTOP,
 		xstyle:        0 | controlxstyle,
 		doNotLoadFont: true,
 	},
diff --git a/todo.md b/todo.md
index 52f9bf1..c6164db 100644
--- a/todo.md
+++ b/todo.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ ALL:
 - vertical alignment of labels still has some flaws
 	- gtk+: currently requires labels to be filling for this to work: grids don't do this by default, for instance
 		- won't cause any issues, just an inconvenience that should be addressed
+- make sure tab stop behavior for Areas makes sense, or provide a handler function
 
 MAC OS X:
 - NSComboBox scans the entered text to see if it matches one of the items and returns the index of that item if it does; find out how to suppress this so that it returns -1 unless the item was chosen from the list (like the other platforms)
diff --git a/uitask_windows.go b/uitask_windows.go
index f4ce50d..1075b5b 100644
--- a/uitask_windows.go
+++ b/uitask_windows.go
@@ -91,7 +91,9 @@ func ui(main func()) error {
 
 var (
 	_dispatchMessage  = user32.NewProc("DispatchMessageW")
+	_getActiveWindow		= user32.NewProc("GetActiveWindow")
 	_getMessage       = user32.NewProc("GetMessageW")
+	_isDialogMessage		= user32.NewProc("IsDialogMessageW")
 	_postQuitMessage  = user32.NewProc("PostQuitMessage")
 	_sendMessage      = user32.NewProc("SendMessageW")
 	_translateMessage = user32.NewProc("TranslateMessage")
@@ -119,6 +121,14 @@ func msgloop() {
 		if r1 == 0 { // WM_QUIT message
 			return
 		}
+		// this next bit handles tab stops
+		r1, _, _ = _getActiveWindow.Call()
+		r1, _, _ = _isDialogMessage.Call(
+			r1,		// active window
+			uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&msg)))
+		if r1 != 0 {
+			continue
+		}
 		_translateMessage.Call(uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&msg)))
 		_dispatchMessage.Call(uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&msg)))
 	}