Author Topic: Switcher2: Expose Clone (Window Arranger) for Windows (Read 69293 times)

cybernetnews · « **Reply #25 on:** September 04, 2007, 10:15 PM »

Some of you are saying that there are similar apps for XP, but the Aero on Vista makes a huge difference on these. Often times I pull up the Expose view in Switcher just to see the progress on a file transfer, or to check on many things without actually switching over to the app itself. I never actually realized how useful the Aero interface could be until I really focused on using it...and that's when I realized its more than just eye candy.

And no, I'm not a Microsoft Fanboy. I use multiple distros of Linux on a daily basis, but in my opinion Microsoft did a much better job on Vista than everyone makes it out to be. Or I could just be lucky that I haven't had any problems *knocks on wood*

Laughing Man · « **Reply #26 on:** September 05, 2007, 06:04 PM »

Cool, if only I could close apps with middle click like I can with scale (also like the OSX Expose) in Compiz Fusion in Linux.

Darwin · « **Reply #27 on:** September 05, 2007, 06:28 PM »

Sorry cybernetnews, I'm not really following what you're saying about the Aero interface (I don't have access to Vista). What does Aero offer above and beyond what these various options listed running under XP offer? You may have answered this in your post above, but as a teacher it is my perogative to encourage my students to read carefully without actually practising what I preach!

Dirhael · « **Reply #28 on:** September 05, 2007, 06:39 PM »

Sorry cybernetnews, I'm not really following what you're saying about the Aero interface (I don't have access to Vista). What does Aero offer above and beyond what these various options listed running under XP offer? You may have answered this in your post above, but as a teacher it is my perogative to encourage my students to read carefully without actually practising what I preach!
-Darwin (September 05, 2007, 06:28 PM)

The main advantage Aero has over all the earlier interfaces of Windows, and this extends to applications such as this, is that all windows are 3D objects. This gives applications like this the possibility to have all windows display their content in real-time. Movies playing in your favorite player will continue playing, that youtube video in your browser will keep playing, if you're compressing a huge set of files, you can see the progress bar updating in real-time in the HUD...basically, none of the "thumbnails" being displayed are static

Darwin · « **Reply #29 on:** September 05, 2007, 07:11 PM »

Hmm.. Thanks for that Dirhael. Interestingly, this is a feature of Reflex Vision (and Entbloess before that): Live Preview. I've reinstalled the latest version and when using alt-tab the thumbnails are live - I can watch a download progress indicator complete the download and change to "download complete", for example. Just verified that this works under XP Pro.

Darwin · « **Reply #30 on:** September 05, 2007, 07:16 PM »

PS obviously, the Live Preview option significantly increases Reflex Vision's RAM usage, but only when you're actually invoking it. It's VM usage is pretty steady at about 22 MB.

Dirhael · « **Reply #31 on:** September 05, 2007, 07:21 PM »

Hmm.. Thanks for that Dirhael. Interestingly, this is a feature of Reflex Vision (and Entbloess before that): Live Preview. I've reinstalled the latest version and when using alt-tab the thumbnails are live - I can watch a download progress indicator complete the download and change to "download complete", for example. Just verified that this works under XP Pro.
-Darwin (September 05, 2007, 07:11 PM)

I used to use that program back when I still was on XP, but I removed it after a while seeing as there are several types of windows/applications it doesn't show. It also slows down after using it for a while and it does not always update the previews correctly or as fast as I'd like (well, it didn't back when I used it. They could have improved it since). Basically, there is only so much you can do without having a backend such as Aero or Compiz (Linux) to run on.

Darwin · « **Reply #32 on:** September 05, 2007, 09:53 PM »

No real arguments from me, Dirhael. They seem to have made it more stable and I haven't encountered anything that it won't show, but ultimately I simply don't care that much about being able to view my open apps like this. The default alt-tab coupled with the taskbar is all that I need.

cybernetnews · « **Reply #33 on:** September 06, 2007, 10:40 PM »

PS obviously, the Live Preview option significantly increases Reflex Vision's RAM usage, but only when you're actually invoking it. It's VM usage is pretty steady at about 22 MB.
-Darwin (September 05, 2007, 07:16 PM)

Yeah, the consistent polling of the windows is an intensive process in XP. Everytime there is a change in the contents Reflex has to redo the screenshot used to display it. Vista is different in that it manages your windows in a layered system where each window is assigned its own layer. This allows applications to efficiently grab the the current state of the window.

No real arguments from me, Dirhael. They seem to have made it more stable and I haven't encountered anything that it won't show, but ultimately I simply don't care that much about being able to view my open apps like this. The default alt-tab coupled with the taskbar is all that I need.
-Darwin (September 05, 2007, 09:53 PM)

That's how I was until I used the latest version of Switcher. I set it up to replace Alt-Tab, and it's nice because it shows wonderfully oversized previews of the windows. And thanks to the powerful keyboard shortcut editor I can make it behave exactly like Alt-Tab.

Darwin · « **Reply #34 on:** September 06, 2007, 11:48 PM »

Sounds cool, cybernetnews. I walked up to the brink today and almost leapt over... I was in Staples where they are selling a number of KILLER notebooks (I haven't actually SEEN them kill anything, mind you - don't go accusing me of making wild accusations...) for peanuts and I had an opportunity to tempt myself mightily by playing around with Vista Ultimate and Vista Home Premium machines. All of them were running with dedicated video memory and with 2GB RAM. Nice. I finally walked away when I realised that none of them had anything installed other than windows, some OEM crap, a bit of DVD burning software and unactivated demos of Office 2007... Anyway, I foolishly DIDN'T test fly the new alt-tab feature. Doh! Was pretty awed by all the processing power, though (all three were Intel Duo 2 Cores - a 5450 and two 7200s. The 5450 was $1049 and the two 7200s $1299 and $1699 resepectively).

Laughing Man · « **Reply #35 on:** September 07, 2007, 08:15 AM »

Yeah, I have one of those laptops lol. Doesn't have a graphics card in it though (intergrated) so I can't play any modern games with it. It even chugs on Morrowind -_-. Oh well, it was meant for school use anyway.

I personally don't like the win+tab (the new alt+tab I'm guessing that your talking about). Flip 3D doesn't really do it for me when I'm trying to find a window.

Dirhael · « **Reply #36 on:** September 07, 2007, 08:29 AM »

No, Flip3D most definitely have some usability issues. I wonder who at Microsoft figured it would be a good idea to display your open applications like a stack of photographs? It's not exactly the easiest way to do things, as you can't just scan over the screen with your eyes to locate the correct one. What I would recommend to anyone that want some of the convenience of a program like "Switcher 2" but doesn't want to install 3'rd party software, is to use this very nice tip from Cybernetnews and just increase the thumbsize of the regular alt+tab instead

Nighted · « **Reply #37 on:** September 10, 2007, 04:56 PM »

So this basically seems to do what my IntelliPoint software already does? Hmm....

katykaty · « **Reply #38 on:** September 11, 2007, 04:17 PM »

Hey, I didn't know Intellitype did that

Now I know why I bought a mouse with 5 buttons

Darwin · « **Reply #39 on:** September 11, 2007, 05:19 PM »

Two quetions: is that YOU jumping off the back of an aircraft, nighted? And is that feature available in Vista only or is it available in XP as well? I have a Microsoft mouse but have long since uninstalled the intellipoint software.

PhilB66 · « **Reply #40 on:** September 11, 2007, 06:22 PM »

There you go:

http://www.microsoft...yboard/Download.mspx

http://www.microsoft...20for%20Windows%20XP

Darwin · « **Reply #41 on:** September 11, 2007, 08:16 PM »

Thanks PhilB66 - didn't occur to me to go looking for the latest version...

AFAICT I'm going to have to install it to find out. I've downloaded it, but there is no compelling reason for me to install it, so I think I'll just let sleeping dogs lie. I uninstalled it because I didn't think it added anything to counterbalance the hit my system took on resources. I doubt that the latest version is any different. It was just idle curiosity...

lanux128 · « **Reply #42 on:** September 11, 2007, 11:47 PM »

There you go:

http://www.microsoft...yboard/Download.mspx

http://www.microsoft...20for%20Windows%20XP
-PhilB66 (September 11, 2007, 06:22 PM)

wow, this looks cool! do these work with any mice or only with IntelliPoint products?

Darwin · « **Reply #43 on:** September 12, 2007, 12:11 AM »

I suspect with any mouse - it's just a utility (though if memory serves it also installs the drivers for MS mice).

lanux128 · « **Reply #44 on:** September 12, 2007, 12:20 AM »

thanks Darwin, anyway have finished downloading and i'm going to make the leap. hopefully i won't be spending the afternoon having to weed any unwanted DLLs..

lanux128 · « **Reply #45 on:** September 12, 2007, 12:55 AM »

after rebooting, it's so far so good, no conflicts with KatMouse..

only problem with Firefox's middle-click has been taken care of via program-specific settings.. thanks PhilB66 for pointing to the link and to Darwin, for the helpful nudge..

yksyks · « **Reply #46 on:** September 12, 2007, 01:33 AM »

Personally I prefer simplicity, lucidity and speed to all those elaborate windows previews. For those like me there's one app not mentioned here yet: SmartTab (http://www.smarttab.org). It's a minimalist Alt-Tab replacement. I especially like that you can directly select from dozens of running apps with a number/letter key.

lanux128 · « **Reply #47 on:** September 12, 2007, 03:50 AM »

Smart Tab looks a lot like this AHK-based Alt+Tab.. maybe a case of mutual inspiration..

Darwin · « **Reply #48 on:** September 12, 2007, 08:13 AM »

Alt+Tab is nice. It's the only alternative to the default alt-tab function in XP that still tempts me. I, too, after using a number of enhancers (Entbloess/Reflex Vision, Top Desk - demo only, Windows Powertoy, WindowsFX, and a number of other, now forgotten, freeware enhancers) prefer the lightweight approach. I still have Alt+tab installed and will give it another shake. What I find usually happens is that I am unable to see much benefit in return for the hit on my system resources (of which I am insanely jealous) and wind up uninstalling, or at least disabling.

yksyks · « **Reply #49 on:** September 24, 2007, 05:26 PM »

Just appeared on Freewaregenius -- Shock Aero: http://www.freewareg...07/09/24/shock-aero/, or directly http://update.docs.k...y/Shock-Aero-v135-en. Anyone tried this?