Make XP-Style Alt-Tab the Default in Windows 7

Annoyances, Microsoft, User Experience, Windows 7 / By

OK, so I’m not sure if this works in Vista but it definitely works in Windows 7.

I have grown very tired of the Aero-style Alt-Tab behavior in Windows 7 (only took 4 weeks to get sick of it!), and I really wanted to revert back to the “classic Alt-Tab” behavior and make it my default. The former is easy. The latter requires a little regedit hack:

  • Create a DWORD called “AltTabSettings” in \HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
  • Set its value to 1.
  • Test Alt-Tab combination. The Windows XP-style AltTab behavior should have returned.

Thanks to a comment from “barbudo” on this page for the answer to this mildly-perplexing problem (scroll down to the comments).