Here’s some stuff I’ve discovered with Windows Vista’s application switchers (the good ol’ Alt-Tab and the new 3D application switcher). Nothing revolutionary, but just in case you dint know, here it is.
When I got my Vista (Home Premium), I had known that it had the (almost) uber-cool application switcher (the real uber-cool one is still mac OS X’s expose), so I was keen to try it out. So the first thing I did was open a few windows and hit Alt-Tab. I was disappointed, it was the good ol’ 2D app switcher. It looked better, but not as cool as the new one.
The 3D application switcher was only available on the QuickLaunch toolbar. What’s so great about that? Don’t expect me to move my mouse all thousands of pixels to hit a tiny button to switch apps, especially when the boss is walking towards my desk, every millisecond counts!
Well anyway, i finally figured out the shortcut key to the 3D app switcher, its not AltTab, its Windows-Tab (Windows = the key with the Windows logo on it. If your keyboard doesn’t have one, its time to get a new one!)I also discovered some tricks, i call them tricks coz i don’t read manuals (except MSDN and SQL Server BOL) with both the AltTab and Windows-Tab.
AltTab
- Use the mouse. After click Alt-Tab, why keep Tab-ing to the app you want? Just move your mouse to the app you want to activate.
- The switcher normally disappears when you release the Alt key, if you need to keep the switcher open, don’t use Alt-Tab, use Ctrl-Alt-Tab and it’ll stay open even when you release the Alt key and closes when you hit Esc or click the app you want to keep open. That’s how i managed to grap this screen dump…
- Use your mouse. The normal Windows-Tab action is to activate the frontmost window in the stack, if you don’t want to keep Tab-ing, just use your mouse to click the app you want to activate.
- Use the scroller on your mouse. After launcher the switcher, use the scroller to scroll between apps.
- Again, to keep the switcher open, launch it using Ctrl-Windows-Tab and it’ll stay open. You can use the mouse scroller, Tab, or mouseclick the app you want to activate. I used it to get this screen dump…
4 Comments
Good stuff. I’m loving my vista experience right now (Ultimate version). Know what? I actually forgot to try out the aero until you mentioned it.
yes. Actually the only reason I invested in Vista was to use a young operating system with new technology (like WPF) in it and would be cheaper to upgrade in future. the XP family has us well, and is surely more stable, but I suspect Microsoft doesn’t plan to keep its SDLC for too long.
kor, my fren complainin bout vista. it seems took up 1gb of her ram. n nw things all working pretty slow
terri, yes, it does seem ’slow’, and yes, it is VERY memory hungry. I realised the same thing as her, when i first brought the PC back from the shop, with nothing else installed, ie clean PC, and I started the computer, it was already taking up 1GB out of my 3GB.
But don’t worry, I’m sure Microsoft is looking into sorting this out, hopefully in a next service release.
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