alt-tab stopped working

QueBert

Lifer
Jan 6, 2002
22,954
1,145
126
I hit ALT-Tab and nothing, my ALT's working fine, as is ht Tab. I haven't changed any system settings. Google isn't turning up any help except for a registery hack to disable it. how the hell do I re-enable it though?
 

Allanv

Senior member
May 29, 2001
905
0
0
Alt-Tab - Restore to Default Behavior

Open Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs. Powertoys for Windows XP. Remove the Alt-Tab replacement. When you install Windows XP Powertoys, it comes with a program called TaskSwitch.exe designed to enhance the Alt+Tab task switcher. To disable this feature, go to Start/Run and type: msconfig. Click the "Startup" tab and uncheck startup item "taskswitch". Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR. In Processes, locate the TaskSwitch process and end it. Your Alt-Tab will be back to normal.

To manually apply: Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

"CoolSwitchColumns"
"CoolSwitchRows"

The above values reflect how many columns and rows, respectively, you want to appear in the Alt+Tab cool switch display.

mine are set to

coolswitch = 1
coolswitchcolumns = 7
coolswitchrows = 3

see if any of these are incorrect it also referenced powertoys as well
 

Talesavo

Junior Member
Apr 10, 2010
2
0
0
I checked my regedit(running windows 7 Ultimate) and I don't have the CoolSwitch string, should I add one in as a binary or a string? For some reason, I'm in the same boat, my alt+tab just stopped working and I don't use PowerToys.
 

gaidensensei

Banned
May 31, 2003
2,851
2
81
Talesavo, that's from 2006 and before Windows 7 existed. The registry commands and edits are for Windows XP. Can you use windows key + Tab? It's another form of Alt tab in Windows7/Vista.

PS. Chuckling at Quebert's thread from the dead :D
 

MedicBob

Diamond Member
Nov 29, 2001
4,151
1
0
LOL 2 year old thread...

Anywho, as Gaidensensi suggested use Windows/Tab and what happens with several items open?
 

Talesavo

Junior Member
Apr 10, 2010
2
0
0
LOL 2 year old thread...

Anywho, as Gaidensensi suggested use Windows/Tab and what happens with several items open?

windows key + tab works fine but that function unfortunately doesn't work when I'm playing videogames, where I'm alt+tabbing a lot. :( Any other suggestions? I know that both the tab and the alt key are working, individually. But once I alt+tab, nothing. :( P.S I know this is a 2 year old thread, but I didn't want to create a new thread with the same title, hehe.