23.11 Managing and Switching Tasks with TaskSwitchXP

It’s amazing how dependent we become on the simple Alt-Tab or Alt-Shift-Tab keystrokes in our daily workflow. Task switching is a critical part of getting around in the Windows multitasking environment. Unfortunately, Alt-Tab task switching isn’t very helpful when you’ve got a lot of applications open, because the list of icons gets muddled and confusing. And what if you have several instances of the same application running—how do you tell which application icon refers to the instance you’re looking for?

TaskSwitchXP is a small system tool that enhances the Alt-Tab dialog with customizable list styles, thumbnail previews, and advanced task-management capabilities. It makes application switching much more visually intuitive, and it adds a great amount of functionality.

TaskSwitchXP supports a few built-in interface schemes. It dynamically adapts to the selected Windows XP Visual Style, so it provides customizable font and color settings for each user in the system. It also supports standard Windows XP shadow and transparency effects, fade animation, and more.

TaskSwitchXP at a Glance

Tool

TaskSwitchXP

Version covered

2.0

Home page

http://www.ntwind.com/software/taskswitchxp.html

Power Tools page

http://www.windevpowertools.com/tools/173

Summary

An advanced Alt-Tab replacement with thumbnail previews and advanced task-management capabilities ...

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