Annoyance: Win+Tab starts at second window

  • Thread starter Thread starter OvErboRed
  • Start date Start date
O

OvErboRed

Like Alt+Tab, Win+Tab should cycle through the windows in the taskbar
starting with the first; instead, it starts at the second. This has been a
problem for as long as I can remember (back through Win 98, maybe Win 95).
This is all I have installed:

Windows XP Pro
IIS
Office 2003
Visual Studio .NET 2003
Acrobat 6 (full)
QuickTime 6
Flash Player
AVG Antivirus (free edition)
Java SDK 1.4.2
7-Zip
All Windows Updates (incl. non-criticals)

It was one of these that caused the problem, and I'm betting it's Office or
one of the Windows Updates. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks and Happy
New Years!
 
Why is this a problem? You would not (or should not) hit alt+tab or win+tab
unless you were looking to switch focus. By tapping the tab key, you
automatically switch to the next window of focus (in your view, the second
program). This is the way it's supposed to work. It's not broken, it's by
design.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
Thanks for your reply. There are several problems with your argument:

1. The first window on the taskbar is not necessarily the window
currently with focus, and the second window on the taskbar is not
necessarily the next window that would have received focus with a single
Alt+Tab.

2. With Win+Tab, you don't necessarily want to change focus; you could
be trying to minimize the current window, for instance, or closing a
task group.

3. After a fresh installation of Windows (98 through XP), this has never
been an issue.

This is a bug, just like how double-clicking on Start Menu folders no
longer works and MSIE now has double-scrolling - a minor bug, but
annoying nonetheless. I'm just wondering if anybody has found a solution
to the problem (and hopefully one that wouldn't require me to prioritize
Win+Tab over a critical security update).
 
Sorry, but there's no solution I know of for what you are asking.

As to the double-scrolling, I agree, it's annoying. It's a known problem
with Windows Update KB824145. For now, the only fix is to remove it. To do
so, copy/paste the below into a start/run prompt and click "ok":

c:\windows\ieuninst /q c:\windows\inf\q824145.inf

Hopefully, the error will be fixed soon and you can reinstall this security
update.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
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