Windows Tip: Configuring ALT+TAB in Vista

November 13, 2007 —

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The more things change, the more they stay the same -- or at least, they can sometimes
be configured to remain the same. Some ways of performing certain tasks in Windows
Vista have changed, either significantly or subtly, compared to previous versions
of Microsoft Windows. Of course, that in itself is not necessarily a bad thing
-- how many users complained when Windows 95 came out that they wanted to go back
to the Windows 3.1 ways of doing things? Not many, since most changes in new versions
of Windows are for the better. Still, some changes can be more frustrating than
others.

For example, I often get annoyed sometimes by the significantly increased number
of steps I must go through to reconfigure IP address settings in the GUI. I guess
that's because I have a lot of test machines running and I am always reconfiguring
them for different purposes. And I guess I could use netsh.exe instead of the
GUI to reconfigure network settings on my machines, but I'm lazy sometimes. Or
maybe I'm just addicted to the mouse

Ordinary users tend to have different complaints than mine, however. Like how
the behavior of ALT+TAB has subtly changed in Vista. Of course, the logical solution
here is to move forward and use Flip 3D instead. But who said users are logical?
Users tend to get stuck in their ways, and those who are used to using ALT+TAB
to switch between windows tend to try and keep using this feature. The result
is they get surprised and often annoyed that the algorithm for ordering how windows
are displayed using ALT+TAB has subtly (and somewhat incomprehensibly) changed
in Vista. Why change something that works and is easy to understand? Yeah, I miss
my rotary dial telephone too.

So what are die-hard users to do about this issue? Well, you could do the following:
Open the Registry Editor, browse to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer,
create a new DWORD value named AltTabSettings, and assign it a numeric value of
1. If you do this, ALT+TAB in Vista behaves just like it did in previous versions
of Windows. Is this registry hack supported? Not that I know of. Recall that I
mentioned in a previous article that hacking undocumented registry settings can
result in putting your system into an unsupported state. On the other hand, having
to deal with a lot of aggravated users can put you the administrator into an unsupported
state, and sometimes I'd rather have the support of my users than supportable
systems!

What changes do you like in Vista? What changes don't you like? Have you found
ways of reverting such changes so that Vista behaves like previous versions of
Windows? Do you think doing that is a good idea? Email me, I'd like to hear your
opinion on these matters.

ITworld