Author Topic: Alt-tab replacement ? (Read 18371 times)

kartal · « **on:** June 07, 2009, 12:02 PM »

Hi

I am looking for a new alt+tab replacement(under xp64). I use taskswitchxp, which is fine. Actually it is one of the best but for some reason sometimes it does not trigger properly and I endup pressing alt+tab many zillion times to invoke. Anyways I am not happy with that particular behaviour.

I have also tried many others like alttab++,alttab thingy etc and yet I have not found anything that satisfies my needs. Alttab thingy looked nice but it is quite buggy, rezising does not work, v4 had preview problems. I know it is free stuff but as long as it does not work properly being free is kind of irrelevant.

Alttab++ is nice and simple but it does not have any sorting based on name, application.

I use Farr Alt+tab plugin but again this one does not have any sorting either. I know I can type the name but I do not want to type a name when I just need to see what apps are open, or when I need to quickly browse to another app. Farr Alttab is great for if you are into typing and know which app you need to browse to.

What I am looking for

-The listing should include window name, and app name
-Different listing options(icon, list, grid etc)
-Preview would be nice
-Sticky Alttab mode
-Sorting based on different criteria (date, window name, app name, size etc)

tomos · « **Reply #1 on:** June 07, 2009, 01:54 PM »

have you tried MouseAltTab available at WEP's page http://wep.dcmembers.com/
here's the AHK http://wep.dcmembers.com/malttab.ahk (also available as exe there)

it has #1 & 5 on your list. Also shows icons.
#5 (sorting) only on available fields = windows & exe names
I dont know what "Sticky Alttab mode" is

songless · « **Reply #2 on:** June 21, 2009, 07:34 AM »

I use the autohotkey script posted by tomos above since two years, the forum thread is here for previews:
http://www.autohotke...f64c07e1dec56b751650

For sticky mode ( dialog doesn't hide when alt key is released, better for mouse advanced users like me ) I did an easy modification, removed the code for hiding the dialog. And I associated a StrokeIt gesture with the hotkey ( that I changed from alt+tab to ctrl+w or something similar ) so I don't have to touch the keyboard to move between apps quickly.

I also tried taskswitchxp that has nice previews and configurable user interface, but for some strange reason Windows crashed when I was using Spotify. I suppose taskswitchxp uses some very low-level apis to work, shame because it's good software

fenixproductions · « **Reply #3 on:** June 21, 2009, 08:20 AM »

2kartal

I am sorry to inform you but I am afraid there is nothing like you'd like to have. I've tried to find Alt+Tab replacement which would suit some of your needs dozen times during last few years and I found none.

Most of the people (developers) were happy with Microsoft tool or Windows built in TaskSwitch (yes, that is how it's called). When I had got annoyed enough I've even tried to write my own replacement in C# but I found it too slow

"Screenshot"

It looked like this:

Alt-tab replacement ?

Innuendo · « **Reply #4 on:** June 21, 2009, 09:49 PM »

Personally, I think the best Alt+Tab replacement software is Windows 7.

sajman99 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 27, 2009, 12:21 PM »

Preview would be nice.

Winflip at http://tokyodownstai...2007/11/winflip.html could be regarded as too basic for advanced users, but I can easily and quickly cycle through all my XP windows in a Vista-like 3D effect. On my widescreen monitor, large real-time previews are displayed with amazing clarity via Win+Tab (customizable).

The combination of TaskSwitchXP and Winflip could be a potent 1-2 punch. Winflip's site is rather sparse, so I'll leave to others to comment on xp64 support.

kartal, I also look forward to other recommendations which might fulfill more of your requirements.

kartal · « **Reply #6 on:** June 27, 2009, 12:29 PM »

sajman99,

I did use Winflip last year for couple days. It is nice but it is too a slow method to browse applications, at least for me. This has nothing to do with the speed of the application, it is just that when you have 20 windows open, flipping through them is not fast enough method.

songless · « **Reply #7 on:** September 20, 2009, 05:27 AM »

VistaSwitcher ( the replacement to the amazing TaskSwitchXP ) has been released in beta phase:
http://www.ntwind.co...e/vistaswitcher.html

I'm trying it since a few minutes, for the moment it's stable and it looks pretty good !

yksyks · « **Reply #8 on:** December 15, 2009, 08:18 AM »

Final version 1.1.0 of VistaSwitcher was just released. Seems to be very good.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #9 on:** December 15, 2009, 01:52 PM »

Final version 1.1.0 of VistaSwitcher was just released. Seems to be very good.
-yksyks (December 15, 2009, 08:18 AM)

Just updated. I usually forget all about Alt-Tab. But I like VistaSwitcher better than the default. Nice freebie. I've been using the beta, and now this latest release, on Vista64 and W7. Haven't noticed any problems.

skwire · « **Reply #10 on:** December 15, 2009, 02:33 PM »

I realise that it is not quite what you want but I've used "Joe" for years and years. Very simple and elegant. http://hp.vector.co....84/software/Joe.html

yksyks · « **Reply #11 on:** December 15, 2009, 03:12 PM »

Because I personally prefer minimalistic design, I'm still using SmartTab on WinXP, but this one is not developed since 2006, so I didn't dare to try it on Vista. VistaSwitcher seems to be a good alternative (of course I'm using it with "no preview" option). I like the possibility to select an application using the numeric keys. Quite handy if you have a lot of running applications. SmartTab is a bit better in this, but its window is sometimes too narrow.

Curt · « **Reply #12 on:** December 15, 2009, 07:27 PM »

I didn't quite like VistaSwitcher. Wheel+rightclick is too difficult for my fingers, but the program is less useful without it. I use Alt+Tab whenever I only have two or three windows open. If more windows are open, I will click the Window Switcher icon in my Quick Launch area (which is True Launch Bar) but I have no idea from where I got it; I have no folder or installed program with such name! It probably came with the computer, powered by Fujitsu Siemens. To scroll, I'll only have to scroll..., yeah, but to select any new window, I'll have to either let go of the mouse, to press Enter, or move the mouse and click the window. So also Window Switcher is less than perfect.

Alt-tab replacement ?

Edited:
I should tell that also the desktop is a window, so if I click this virtual desktop window, all open normal windows will be minimized at once.

fenixproductions · « **Reply #13 on:** December 15, 2009, 11:26 PM »

Working on Windows XP and multiple monitors recently and I can say that Alt-Tab Thingy appeared to be the best. And that is thanks to the possibility to limit shown applications to current desktop only (determined my mouse cursor position).

P.S. Mouser, please, make Spell Check window a little bit higher to be not cut off in Opera.

Spoiler

yksyks · « **Reply #14 on:** December 16, 2009, 02:43 AM »

Working on Windows XP and multiple monitors recently and I can say that Alt-Tab Thingy appeared to be the best. And that is thanks to the possibility to limit shown applications to current desktop only (determined my mouse cursor position).
-fenixproductions (December 15, 2009, 11:26 PM)

VistaSwitcher has the same option: Preferences > Behavior > Show tasks only from the active monitor.

P.S. Mouser, please, make Spell Check window a little bit higher to be not cut off in Opera.
-fenixproductions (December 15, 2009, 11:26 PM)

The same in Chrome.

f0dder · « **Reply #15 on:** December 16, 2009, 10:49 AM »

Personally, I prefer switcher²... it's an exposé clone so a bit different from your regular Alt+Tab, but I find it's a lot more convenient when you have boatloads of windows across multiple monitors.

sajman99 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 16, 2009, 04:35 PM »

Working on Windows XP and multiple monitors recently and I can say that Alt-Tab Thingy appeared to be the best. And that is thanks to the possibility to limit shown applications to current desktop only (determined my mouse cursor position)...
-fenixproductions (December 15, 2009, 11:26 PM)

When I tried Alt-Tab-Thingy recently it was pretty darn nice, but unfortunately it seemed kinda buggy (ie. showing the wrong thumbnail for some apps) and too unresponsive (ie. noticeable delay before rendering thumbnails). Maybe I had a conflict of some sort, but I didn't look into it much before discarding it. I guess I'll take another look...

fenixproductions · « **Reply #17 on:** December 16, 2009, 06:43 PM »

2sajman99
I think that issues with ATT are different for each PC.

I can't work with it at home due to problems described by you, but it is perfect on my work PC

.

sajman99 · « **Reply #18 on:** December 17, 2009, 02:04 PM »

Ah..thanks for telling.

In his original post kartal had mentioned bugs in Alt-Tab-Thingy, but I thought maybe the newest version would work for me. Uh...not so much.

phitsc · « **Reply #19 on:** April 29, 2014, 02:30 AM »

Despite what it says on their web site, VistaSwitcher seems to run well on Windows 8. Problems might be related to Metro and Apps (which I don't use). There's a nice review here:

http://winaero.com/b...ks-with-modern-apps/