Task Switch Powertoy, Enhance Your Alt+tab Key Combination!

Niru

May 27 2007, 09:14 AM

Hi all,

Many of us will use Alt+Tab key combination to switch betwwn all those opened windows! But it may be confusing if there are same types of program windows opened already!( I mean more than one instances )

Microsoft became aware of this draw-back after releasing the XP operating system and subsequently released a "Power Toy" named: Task Switcher (Alt-Tab Replacement) to resolve this issue. The Power Toy resolves this issue by replacing the program icons with actual screenshots of your open windows. This way you can easily locate the window you wish to switch to, that is immensely useful for eg: when navigating between several notepad windows at one time.

Here is the screenshot of the key combination Alt+Tab after installing the power toy!

Here are the instructions to install:

Copy http://download.microsoft.com/download/whi...wertoySetup.exe to browser
Choose "Run" from pop-up dialog box
Choose "Run" a second time, this will kick-off the installation of the Power Toy
Once you get the "Installation Complete" dialog, the toy is successfully installed. No need to reboot your PC.

You can get Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloa...ppowertoys.mspx

Luv,
Niran

tyƒoon™

May 27 2007, 08:17 PM

I have been using this same powertoy on my PC for a few months now and it is super helpful when you have many folders, software and files open. This is just another reason why you don't need to upgrade your computer to Vista

. I recommended this to anyone that has a Windows XP PC and as this is a powertoy by Microsoft, you can be certain it is virus-free

matthewk

May 29 2007, 02:20 AM

I have used that one before, but I think TaskSwitchXP is a little cleaner and looks better. It maybe has a few more options for the user too. http://www.ntwind.com/software/taskswitchxp.html

XxDangerxX

Feb 24 2008, 06:01 AM

Hi all,

I recently installed the Vista Task-Switching Power Toy and I want to get rid of it!!

When I alt-tab, I can see the preview of the window fine. Sweet.

Oh wait; a fat lot of good that does if it won't show me any icons!!

This is what my alt-tab looks like:

No icons.

Is this the normal Task Switcher for Vista?
If yes, then they made a big mistake and I want to revert back to the XP version.
If no, how can I fix it? What do I need to install/uninstall?

hoopa

Feb 26 2008, 11:41 AM

Cool, thanks for the link. I think I had seen something like this for Vista, but I was not aware that anything was available for XP.

The odd thing about it is that it's picked up a few applications that I had running in the system tray that were not previously in the alt+tab applications list.

ethergeek

Feb 26 2008, 02:45 PM

I remember when the ALT-Tab powertoy came out for XP in the first place...nobody liked it because it turned the simple, quick alt-tab into something you had to wait for.

Microsoft needs to either make it simple and instant again or just get rid of it.

XxDangerxX

Feb 28 2008, 09:32 AM

So then, no-one's got a solution to my problem then?

Mordent

Feb 28 2008, 04:33 PM

Wait...Alt+Tab is a useful key combination? *tries* ...why has no one informed me of this before? Heck, even without this powertoy thing (which I'll almost certainly end up downloading shortly) I can tell it's going to be damned useful. A big thanks for pointing this one out to me.

levimage

Feb 28 2008, 10:27 PM

If you can't uninstall it with the 'Add and Remove Progams' in the control panel, you might have to use another program like TweakXP, or another 3rd party utility like CCleaner to uninstall it an remove traces of it from your PC and registry. Hope it works for you.

levimage

FirefoxRocks

Feb 28 2008, 10:50 PM

I used to use this when I "vista-ized" my computer. It is in a way similar to the GNOME user interface thing. However, I uninstalled it a few months ago because it was extremely slow if you have a program that hangs or if you have task manager open.

But still, it is an improvement to the alt-tab thing in Windows XP.

Latest Entries

xboxrulz

May 23 2008, 06:35 PM

Well, it's really your choice. I like it so I don't mind it.

xboxrulz

XxDangerxX

May 23 2008, 06:57 AM

Well, that is REALLY stupid!!! I would much rather give up the thumbnails than the icons!

Yet ANOTHER reason to not go and buy Vista...

xboxrulz

May 21 2008, 11:29 PM

QUOTE(XxDangerxX @ Feb 24 2008, 02:01 AM)

No icons.

Is this the normal Task Switcher for Vista?
If yes, then they made a big mistake and I want to revert back to the XP version.
If no, how can I fix it? What do I need to install/uninstall?

No, this is the proper way Windows Vista does its alt-tab:

If you use Aero's Task Switcher (WIN+TAB), it should look something like this:

]

I rather have the Aero interface than this PowerToy.

xboxrulz

error919

May 20 2008, 09:41 PM

Ok i got the program and am using right now. I just can get it to stay up. I have to hold alt and tab for it to work.
And then it switches programs rapidly. How do I get it to stay?

XxDangerxX

Apr 12 2008, 01:34 AM

I installed it on Windows XP. have opened 3 or more windows, and it looks exactly what it look like in the screenshot I posted earlier in page 1. It has pictures of the windows, but no icons.