Replace Alt + Tab in Windows XP with a Vista-Style Switcher

Do you often have many programs open in Windows XP and use Alt + Tab to switch among them? With the default Alt + Tab window switcher in Windows XP, you have to cycle through, small icons, where the label for each icon only displays as you move over the icon.

There is a free utility, called VistaSwitcher, that displays a full-sized preview of each task window and an easy-to-read list of all the running tasks with titles next to the icons.
Download VistaSwitcher from
http://www.ntwind.com/software/vistaswitcher/download.html.
To install VistaSwitcher, double-click on the .exe file you downloaded. The Installer Language dialog box displays. Choose your desired language from the drop-down list and click OK.

Read through the License Agreement and click I Agree.

Choose which components of VistaSwitcher you want to install. We accepted the default of all components selected. Click Next.

Accept the default install location and click Install to begin the installation process.

When the installation is done, click Finish.

An icon for VistaSwitcher is added to the system tray. Right-click on the icon to access the menu.

There are two main shortcuts in VistaSwitcher:

• Alt + Tab: The familiar key combination to switch among all open windows, and
• Alt + ` (Backtick): The key combination to switch among open windows of a single application, for example, switching among open instances of Microsoft Word or Windows Explorer.

NOTE: The Backtick key is right above the Tab key on a US English keyboard layout.
For more keyboard shortcuts for VistaSwitcher, see
http://www.ntwind.com/software/vistaswitcher/shortcuts.html.
To access VistaSwitcher, press Alt + Tab or click once on the VistaSwitcher icon in the system tray.
NOTE: Using Alt + Tab initially, still requires you to hold Alt down while you select a window with the mouse or with the arrow keys. There is a setting to change this, but we will discuss this setting later in this post. Clicking on the VistaSwitcher icon in the system tray makes the VistaSwitcher “sticky” and it will stay up until you select a window.

To change the options for VistaSwitcher, right-click on the icon in the system tray and select Preferences from the popup menu.

The VistaSwitcher Preferences dialog box displays with the General tab active. The General tab allows you to change the language, and has some check boxes for you to specify whether want VistaSwitcher to start when you start Windows (Autostart VistaSwitcher on system startup) and whether you want to have access to the VistaSwitcher icon in the system tray (Show VistaSwitcher icon in notification area).
You can also have VistaSwitcher replace the standard Alt + Tab functionality (Replace standard ALT-TAB key combinations) and replace the right mouse button and wheel functionality (Replace the Right Mouse Button + Wheel) allowing you to use the right mouse button to activate VistaSwitcher and use the mouse wheel to scroll through the list of open windows. You can also change the hotkeys on the General tab.

The Theme box on the Appearance tab allows you to change the appearance of the VistaSwitcher window with themes (there are no additional themes available yet). Use the Preview box to specify whether the preview has a “Desktop” style or a “Window” style.
You can also turn off the preview so all you see is a list of windows. The Task List box allows you to change the width and height of the each item in the list of windows and to specify how many items to display.

The Position box on the Behavior tab allows you to specify the position of the VistaSwitcher. There are also some options below the Position box. One option you might find useful, is the Don’t hide VistaSwitcher when ALT is release (Sticky Mode) option. If this option is on, you don’t have to hold down the Alt key to keep the VistaSwitcher window visible.

The Exclusions tab allows you to specify programs that you don’t want listed in VistaSwitcher. To add a program to the Exclusions list, click the New button on the Exclusions tab.

The VistaSwitcher Exclusion dialog box displays. A list of Active applications displays at the top of the dialog box. If you start another application while the VistaSwitcher Exclusion dialog box is open, click the Update button to add it to the list of Active applications. Select an application in the list and specify, in the Action box, whether the selected application should be excluded from the preview or from the task list. Click OK.

The application you selected to exclude displays on the Exclusions tab. You can easily choose to include the application again by unchecking the check box for the application.
Click OK to save your changes and close the VistaSwitcher Preferences dialog box.

The next time you bring up the VistaSwitcher, the application you excluded will not display in the list of tasks or display a preview, depending on how you chose to exclude it.

VistaSwitcher makes it much easier to switch among running tasks. You don’t have to press Alt + Tab repeatedly to scroll through windows and select your desired application. Now, with a simple setting, you can have VistaSwitcher stay up when you press Alt + Tab. VistaSwitcher will stay visible while you navigate using your mouse or the arrow keys and select the desired window from the easy-to-read list