Alt-tab window won't stay on top of other windows in Windows 7

Has anyone ever found a real answer to this problem? The OP was in 2009, and here we are, four years later and apparently nothing has been done about this??? Really? I wan tto clarify a point here about one of the proposed "solutions", that being abut whether this is default behavior or not. In short, this is NOT default behavior, although I can understand why someone might misinterret, so I am going to succinctly explain why:

Aero Peek is the function of "glassing" (that is, making invisible), all the application windows except the window currently having the focus. When enabled, this means that if you are on Application A, and you press ALT+TAB, and then continue to hold down the ALT key, at first you will see Application A behind the Task Switcher window, and Application B will become selected in the Task Switcher window. Approximately 1 second later, Aero Peek will activate, which will make Application A, and all other windows, invisible, so you will see Application B. The Task Switcher, however will remain visible on top of Application B. Now, THIS is default behavior.

The defect that we are reporting here is that when Aero Peek activates, the Task Switcher, instead of remaining on top of all the other windows, is shuttled BEHIND all the other windows, as if, for instance, it's Z-order was set to 0 (or infinity, whichever one represents the "back"). You can observe this behavior visually if you have dual monitors, and Application B is running on monitor #2 (because then it won't obscure the Task Switcher, which runs on monitor #1), or if Application B is not runnign full-screen, but instead occupies a region fo the screen near the middle, in which case you will see that it partially obscures the view of the Task Switcher. Aero Peek does properly "glass" the other windows besides Application B and the Task Switcher, but IMPROPERLY puts the Task Switcher BEHIND everything else, where you can no longer see it. This is NOT DEFAULT BEHAVIOR. THIS IS  A DEFECT!!! Why is there no resolutio to this after FOUR YEARS?

Here are some of my observations about this defect:

1. The issue occurs in Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit;
2. The issue is inconsistent (e.g., it comes and goes with no specific set of actions or events);
3. Nothing seems to fix it, although disabling Aero Themes keeps you from experiencing the problem (but that's hardly a fix. Buying a Mac instead of Windows will also make the problem go away, but again, that's no "solution".)
4. Until very recently, the only place I experienced this issue was on my custom-built PC, which has an AMD architecture (see further notes below however, as this is no longer true.)
5. To date, I have NEVER experienced this problem on my corporate development PC, which is running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit;
6. As previously noted, the only place I had observed this behavior was on my custom-built PC. I had originally attributed it, lacking a better explanation, to something to do with either or both the AMD architecture and nVidia graphics hardware / software. I have, however in the past week suddenly noticed the behavior on my Dell laptop, which has an Intel architecture.
7. The only thing that I can now attribute to the two PC's experiencing the issue, and in particular to the Dell (in terms of what's new on it) is that both machines have MS Visual Studio on them. Although they do not have the same versions (my desktop has VS 2010 and the Dell has a newly installed VS 2012). The other desktop, the HP desktop that I had mentioned that doesn't exhibit this problem at all (and still does not) also has Visual Studio 2010 installed on it.

As you can see, this seems to be a particularly troublesome bug to track down. What causes it? Why does it appear on some machines and not others? Why has it persisted on my customer-built PC forever, but has only shown up on the Dell in the past week? If VS is the culprit, then why does my corporate (the HP) desktop machine not exhibit the same issue?