Whenever we press ‘Alt+Tab’ key combination in Windows Vista and 7, it shows a new improved screen which shows running applications with their live thumbnails so that you can see the window before switching to them.

The ‘Alt+Tab’ switcher screen also shows ‘Desktop’ in the list so that you can directly access Desktop icons without minimizing all running applications manually.

It’s a good feature but some people might find it annoying as it takes some time to show the switcher screen and selecting the running application. If you also find it annoying and want to get back the old Windows XP styled classic ‘Alt+Tab’ Switcher screen in Windows Vista and 7, this below mentioned steps will surely help you.

Please follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Type regedit in Run or Startmenu search box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

Step 2: Now go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Step 3: In right-side pane, create a new DWORD value AtlTabSettings and set its value to 1.

That’s all. Now whenever you’ll press ‘Alt+Tab’ keys together, it’ll show Windows XP styled classic Switcher screen.

To restore default Aero enabled ‘Alt+Tab’ Switcher screen, just delete the AltTabSetting DWORD value which you created in step 3. Log off and Login again to take effect.

• Written by Naveen Garg.
• In category Software.
• 14 years ago.

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