I believe I've seen the second part you've mentioned - with typing in the client and tabbing to the matter, and the cursor isn't visible. If it's the same as what I've seen on my Windows XP station, then you should be able to type the matter code in anyway, even when you don't see the cursor flashing.

If not, then let us know the behaviour you see - perhaps it's not the same if the finder on the matter field is popping up when you tab to it.