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Clean Alt-Tab for Win8: desktop item and thumbnails removed


osRe

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I figured, if I'm not going to make that generic memory patcher I had in mind, for the time being, better just finish the fixed-function thing I did some testing with.

So here's a memory-patching utility equivalent to the modified AltTab.dll. It's only for the current version of Win8.1 x64 (AltTab.dll v6.3.9600.17415). You can choose which of the two tweaks to apply, and it doesn't modify files.

Works here, but tell me if you see anything funny on your end.

 

btw. am also using TaskLister to get a nice tasklist 

(via ALT+Q with clavier+)

What's TaskLister? Couldn't quite find it.

cAltTab100_win812_x64.7z

Edited by shae
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  • 4 months later...

I'm dying to get a proper ALT-TAB experience, and want to try your solution. However, the board can't seem to find the attachment, have you got an alternative source?

 

 

Oh, and TaskLister is attached on page1: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/163665-clean-alt-tab-for-win8-desktop-item-and-thumbnails-removed/?p=1047318;)

Edited by bouvrie
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  • 1 year later...

shae, thanks for your hard work! Hope this tool is still under development. I tried the current version. It works but unfortunately on-the-fly switching between windows makes it almost unusable for me. Why to flash with windows until the needed one is chosen (a question to M$)? Please add the possibility to disable this "great" feature.

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Hey GCRaistlin. There wasn't a need to develop anything in quite a while because AltTab.dll stayed the same.
At least as far as I know, as I haven't checked if recent Windows updates changed it.

1 hour ago, GCRaistlin said:

Why to flash with windows until the needed one is chosen (a question to M$)?

Do you mean Aero Peek? If so, there's a setting for it in Windows:
http://www.intowindows.com/fix-use-aero-peek-to-preview-the-desktop-grayed-out/

 

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Disabling Peek doesn't help. I disabled it (desktop isn't being showed by moving the mouse cursor to the bottom right corner of the screen) but selecting an icon in Alt-Tab window still causes all windows except the corresponding one to disappear.

Another problem is broken Z-order mentioned above. You can check that it is really broken: open 21 apps, then minimize a window, then press Alt-Shift-Tab. With properly working Z-order, you would change to the window you just minimized. In reality, you won't.

It's worth to add a scheduled task that will launch CleanAltTab on explorer.exe restart:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<Task version="1.2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2004/02/mit/task">
  <RegistrationInfo>
    <Date>2017-04-25T22:21:30.7837079</Date>
    <Author>RYA\Admin</Author>
  </RegistrationInfo>
  <Triggers>
    <EventTrigger>
      <Enabled>true</Enabled>
      <Subscription>&lt;QueryList&gt;&lt;Query Id="0" Path="Application"&gt;&lt;Select Path="Application"&gt;*[System[Provider[@Name='Microsoft-Windows-Winlogon'] and EventID=1002]]&lt;/Select&gt;&lt;/Query&gt;&lt;/QueryList&gt;</Subscription>
    </EventTrigger>
  </Triggers>
  <Principals>
    <Principal id="Author">
      <GroupId>S-1-5-32-545</GroupId>
      <RunLevel>LeastPrivilege</RunLevel>
    </Principal>
  </Principals>
  <Settings>
    <MultipleInstancesPolicy>IgnoreNew</MultipleInstancesPolicy>
    <DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>true</DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>
    <StopIfGoingOnBatteries>true</StopIfGoingOnBatteries>
    <AllowHardTerminate>true</AllowHardTerminate>
    <StartWhenAvailable>false</StartWhenAvailable>
    <RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>false</RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>
    <IdleSettings>
      <StopOnIdleEnd>true</StopOnIdleEnd>
      <RestartOnIdle>false</RestartOnIdle>
    </IdleSettings>
    <AllowStartOnDemand>true</AllowStartOnDemand>
    <Enabled>true</Enabled>
    <Hidden>false</Hidden>
    <RunOnlyIfIdle>false</RunOnlyIfIdle>
    <WakeToRun>false</WakeToRun>
    <ExecutionTimeLimit>P3D</ExecutionTimeLimit>
    <Priority>7</Priority>
  </Settings>
  <Actions Context="Author">
    <Exec>
      <Command>C:\Programs\CleanAltTab\cAltTab.cmd</Command>
    </Exec>
  </Actions>
</Task>

cAltTab.cmd:

@echo off
color 00
:Loop
for /f "skip=1" %%A in ('tasklist /fi "imagename eq explorer.exe"') do (
  >nul ping -n 2 127.0.0.1
  "%~dp0cAltTab.exe" /s=11
  echo OK.
  exit /b
)
if errorlevel 1 echo Waiting for explorer.exe to appear...
>nul ping -n 1 127.0.0.1
goto Loop

If you'll implement waiting for explorer.exe this batch file won't be required.

Edited by GCRaistlin
Edited the script: added a pause before launching cAltTab.exe
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Did you try unchecking "Enable Peek" under System Properties \ Advanced \ Performance \ Settings?

I thought of changing the program to add a scheduler rule instead of a startup shortcut but: crashes don't happen often, scheduler tasks are still more sneaky and hidden for most people, and I'd have to waste some time doing it. :) Doesn't Winlogon event 1002 happen only after explorer.exe has loaded? I recall it worked fine when used directly, but it's been quite a while since I looked so maybe I'm wrong.

I haven't checked in detail the Z-order changes, but I guess it's not something I encounter often. If I need to switch in a "complex" way I usually press and hold Alt-Tab then use the arrow keys. Or else, WinKey+number to target based on taskbar order.


 

Edited by shae
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9 hours ago, shae said:

Did you try unchecking "Enable Peek" under System Properties \ Advanced \ Performance \ Settings?

Yes I did.

9 hours ago, shae said:

crashes don't happen often

Actually it does, at least with Classic Shell.

9 hours ago, shae said:

Doesn't Winlogon event 1002 happen only after explorer.exe has loaded?

Its description is "The shell stopped unexpectedly and explorer.exe was restarted" so I believe it does.

9 hours ago, shae said:

I haven't checked in detail the Z-order changes, but I guess it's not something I encounter often.

It's a very handy feature as you may easily call the last minimized window without breaking the order of MRU windows. I just checked - it is broken now even with a small number of open windows: a minimized window is the one that gets activated on Alt-Tab. A completely senseless change.

I just thought - can these garbage tasks that are visible in Alt-Tab menu when AltTabSettings value is set to 1 in the registry be hidden in a way? It would solve broken Z-order and flashing windows issues without deep changes - for those who don't need thumbnails.

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Something is odd about the way Aero Peek behaves for you. All I had to do to get rid of the transparent window behavior was to uncheck the mentioned setting. I think it works for other people as well. Maybe start a new topic on this specific issue to see if other people encountered it?

I don't know of a way to hide the Metro junk windows from the old-style AltTab switcher. But I can't say I've explored it in depth since I've always used the modern Metro one, after the obligatory tweaks :)

 

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  • 7 months later...

What happens if you try the old Win8 patched DLL?
It will probably misbehave, but worth a try.

But ultimatly, why not use x64 Windows? :)

 

 

Edited by shae
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On 12/4/2017 at 10:18 AM, shae said:

What happens if you try the old Win8 patched DLL?
 

It shows Search pane along other icons. Also, I was able to replace the original dll only through recovery environment which is definitely not an option.

On 12/4/2017 at 10:18 AM, shae said:

But ultimatly, why not use x64 Windows? :)

 

Actually I do, but there are cases when using x64 OS gives nothing but perfomance degradation, for example in virtual machines with a low amount of memory that are intended to run only x86 apps.

Edited by GCRaistlin
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Not sure why you would need the recovery env, but do you mean that even if there was a patched DLL for the latest 8.1 32-bit it wouldn't be good?

I might have done it if it were quick enough to do, but even just patching the DLL would take a while.
Then, if you also mean the memory patcher utility, it would take much more. It probably can't be compiled to 32-bit without modification.

Edited by shae
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