Member Avatar for dcdruck

In all versions of Windows, there is the ability to press alt+tab to switch between application windows that are currently open. That's all fine and incredibly useful. The problem I have is how the ordering of these has changed since Windows XP. Let me explain...

In Windows XP, when I minimize a window it goes to the bottom of the open application window stack. If I press Alt+Tab I will find the application I just minimized to be at the end of the list of windows that I can switch to. This was very handy because I'm not likely to want to immediately return to the window if I minimized it.

In Windows 7, however, when I minimize a window it goes to the second position from the top of the stack. If I press Alt+Tab the first window it wants to bring me back to is the one I just minimized. This annoys me to no end because when I minimize a window, I don't want to revisit it again for a little while. Yet, I am always accidentally Alt+Tabbing to it when I really wanted something else.

Does anyone know of a way to make Windows 7 behave like Windows XP in this regard? The only related things I've found allow me to change the look of the Alt+Tab interface to that of Windows XP. Unfortunately, this has no effect on the behavior that I'm trying to fix. When I minimize a window, it still shows up as the next item in the Alt+Tab menu.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

In Windows 7, however, when I minimize a window it goes to the second position from the top of the stack. If I press Alt+Tab the first window it wants to bring me back to is the one I just minimized. This annoys me to no end because when I minimize a window, I don't want to revisit it again for a little while. Yet, I am always accidentally Alt+Tabbing to it when I really wanted something else

in my win7[not internet explorer or firefox ] I hold down the alt key and then a small screen pop up with all the opened tabs and then I hit the tab key and it advances across to the next window ,each hit of the tab key advances across to the tab I want,
upps ,just noticed ,I down't have mine set to stack them ,maybe that why mine works the way it does

Edited by caperjack
Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

I run with Aero disabled. When I press alt-tab I get a horizontal list of icons for the active apps. You can click directly on the one you want if you don't want to alt-tab through the list.

Member Avatar for caperjack

just got back to this ,and now I think you are talking about ie browser windows ,maybe ,if so I use tab browsing so I don't use stacked .
I thought you were talking about windows explorer windows ,and maybe you are ,im not sure ,will know when you reply I guess .

Edited by caperjack
Member Avatar for dcdruck

Thanks for the replies. I'm sorry for the confusion, but I didn't mean "stack" in the context of a literal visible stacked layout per se. I meant stack as in a programming stack. I was describing all running application windows as being part of a stack that the Alt+Tab menu brings up. Let me try to explain it a little more clearly.

When you Alt+Tab there is a horizontal row (or rows) of application windows to switch to. In Windows XP and earlier, when you minimized a window and then looked at the Alt+Tab menu, the window that you just minimized would be at the very end of that list (i.e. all the way at the right and bottom, if multiple rows)). However, in Windows 7, the window you just minimized is the second from the left in the Alt+Tab menu instead of at the end.

Windows has always sorted this menu based on the order in which you last used each application, but historically the exception to the rule was minimization which pushed minimized windows to bottom of the barrel, lowest "priority", last item on the Alt+Tab list. They simply changed that behavior in Windows 7 and I'm wondering if I can get it back.

Member Avatar for caperjack

a feature I nevered used in my years of using windows ,sorry ,I have nothing to offer anymore .good luck

Member Avatar for Pietro_1

Hi dcdruck,

I completely understand your frustration.
It also drives me crazy.

I found many "sofisticated" answers, but none of them answered the question:
How to set windows 7 to send minimized window to the end of window-list.
(So after Alt-tab it will be the last one, not the first one.)

Have you found any solution till now?

Edited by Pietro_1 because: typo
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