Windows 7 App switching window often sent to back when switching apps

[riverteeth]

Hi everyone,

I'm not quite sure how to describe this problem. I use alt-tab constantly to switch between applications. Sometimes I know I just want to switch back and forth between two apps, so that's just a quick punch of the keys, no visual aid necessary. However, there are other times when we switch between three or more apps, and for these situations, the window that normally appears in the center of the screen with small icons representing your open windows is key. It's supposed to remain there as you hold down the alt key and continue pressing tab (or using the arrow keys) to browse open apps. The problem is that ever since I started using 7, this window sometimes stays on top of the windows I'm browsing through as it should, but other times, it disappears to the back. This means that all I see as I alt-tab through the apps is the open windows themselves. This slows me way down, since I have to take in the entire window and I don't have a visual key to tell me that the explorer window I'm looking for is four or five tabs away. As I say, the problem is intermittent, and I can't figure out what's causing it.

Thanks!

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I didn't even know you could do that!
Just tried it and my window stayed viable as long as I held the Tab key down.

I don't do it that way, I do switch between apps a lot, but all the open applications are visible on my task bar.
I just click on the one I want to show and open it up. This seems a lot easier then using Alt Tab.

Mike

 

[riverteeth]

Just tried it and my window stayed viable as long as I held the Tab key down.

I think you mean the ALT key, Mike.

I don't do it that way, I do switch between apps a lot, but all the open applications are visible on my task bar.
I just click on the one I want to show and open it up. This seems a lot easier then using Alt Tab.

It depends on what you're doing, Mike. I use the task bar to switch apps too, of course. But if I know exactly which window I want to switch to, especially if I'm going back and forth between two windows (like Word and Chrome for example) and what I'm doing is all keyboard based, alt tab is much faster than reaching for my mouse.

 

[Trouble]

Don't know if this will exactly help, but it's kinda nice to know.
Taskbar (super bar) items are numbered (starting with #1 just to the right of the start orb) in the sense that you can use the windows key + a number key (top row of keyboard) to bring up an active window from your taskbar or switch focus to a window that might be covered on your desktop.
So if you have your browser maximized but want to reference your sticky notes behind it just hold the Windows Logo Key and the number key of the taskbar item. In my case WinKey + 4, then WinKey +1 to set focus back to my browser. Hands never leave the keyboard.

 

[riverteeth]

@Trouble, thanks for the tip. That is nice to know. Also, after testing it a bit, I've found that if I have three Word docs open and (since word is forth on my task bar) I hit "windows" + 4, it automatically gives me the Word doc furthest to the left, but if I kept pressing 4 while holding down the windows key, I can cycle through all three Word docs. Now that is useful. One limitation, I don't see how it can work if you have more than 9 applications on your task bar.

Also, the alt-tab (still my favorite of these keyboard shortcuts) seems to be working properly of late.

Thanks again!

 

[Saltgrass]

I like the Winkey + Tab ...

But otherwise, the Alt+Tab will bring up a small bar in the center of the screen which I can cycle through windows. If I wait about a second after the bar appears, the large windows open back up and I can cycle through those with the others being just outlines.

 

[zvit]

This is an Aero function. If you want to use Aero, you can just disable it's Alt-Tab function:
Alt-Tab in Windows 7: Aero-Peek - Donner's Daily Dose of Drama