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WHen I do an alt-tab in Windows 7, if I don't constantly switch window (holding down alt and quickly clicking tab) it will go into Peek mode. Normally, I would expect the alt-tab window to stay on top when the Peek happens, but, instead my little alt-tab window disappears behind the windows being brought forward by the Peek. I can still cycle through the windows by pushing alt-tab, but my window has disappeared. When I tried this on someone else's Windows 7 box, it didn't do this.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Go to Control Panel -> Advanced (or Advanced System Settings) -> in the section Performance click on "Settings..." button -> in the custom list of Visual Effects uncheck "Enable Aero Peek" -> click "Apply" button
Now the alt-tab window will stay afloat as long as you want.
I recently starting having this problem.
In my case, I've narrowed it down to the Windows Gadgets (i.e. sidebar.exe). Once I closed all my gadgets, the problem went away; alternatively, when I killed sidebar.exe, the problem went away.
Hi,
Welcome to Microsoft answers.
Which version of Windows7 are you running ?
I suggest you to update your display drivers, goto manufacturers website and download the latest drivers and install.
Also check use aeropeak to preview desktop, follow these steps:
Let us know if you have any issues.
Thanks and Regards,
Azam - Microsoft Support.
OK. I think I have the answer...I logged on to my computer with a different account and did not see the same Alt-tab problems I had before. Assuming this was a profile issue, I logged in as an admin and deleted my profile (My Computer|Properties|Advanced System Settings|User Profiles|Settings). I logged back in and don't have the alt-tab problem anymore. You will end up losing a lot of your settings and don't forget to back up your desktop and Favorites, but, it works.
I would like to hear if this fixes the problem for anyone else.
Good news. I have a fix.
I found that IE 10's tear-off tabs triggered the bug so I could ignore it no longer. I did some investigation, found the combination of window flags which triggers the bug, and wrote code to find and modify those windows. Now I can have ipoint.exe, sidebar.exe, and IE 10 tear-off tabs on Windows 7 and Alt+tab continues to work.
A full explanation and a download of the fix-it programs can be found here:
http://randomascii.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/alttab-bug-worsened-by-ie-10-but-fix-found/
Please let me know if this works for you. Comment here and/or on the blog post.
Wow, thankyou so much for finally fixing this, Microsoft!
Oh wait, it wasn't Microsoft that fixed it - it was a helpful 3rd party developer. Microsoft still haven't bothered to release a fix.
In any case, thank you for investing the time and effort into this, Bruce. After reading your blog post I'm curious - did you ever do any other experiments with these "ghost" windows, such as increasing their dimensions and bringing them into the visible area of the screen to see what's actually on them? Seems like some kind of odd hack that the apps themselves are performing to hold focus (maybe for mouse-wheel interaction?). Seems kind of funny that the only apps we know of so far performing these hacks are all written by Microsoft themselves...
