Last week, I outlined why I am a bit disappointed about the Windows 7 taskbar. Alt-Tab and the 3D document flip are not good task switching solutions, either. Both options have the disadvantage of making it quite difficult to locate applications with multiple opened instances. A much better solution is the free tool VistaSwitcher of NTWind Software. It doesn’t look as cool as 3D document flip or Aero Peek, but its functionality is superior to all of Microsoft’s task switching solutions.

Vista Switchter’s interface is divided into two panes. The right hand side displays a list of all opened applications with their window titles and the left side shows a preview of the application when you hover over the task list. The size of the interface is configurable, so you can make use of your entire screen size. This is especially useful if all your application icons don’t fit on the taskbar.

It is much easier to locate apps with VistaSwitcher than with Alt-Tab or the Windows taskbar because you can see a larger portion of the window title. This comes in handy if you have opened multiple instances of the same application. Furthermore, you can display only the tasks of the current foreground application. For example if Word is selected, then you can access a list of all other opened Word documents with a special shortcut key.

I replaced Alt-Tab with the tool and I “pinned” it to one of the buttons of my eight-button mouse (this thing is not just useful for gaming). If you only have a common mouse than you can replace the right mouse button plus wheel with VistaSwitcher. It is possible to assign a key of your choice to access the task list or click on the tool’s systray icon.

If you work with multiple monitors, then you can configure on which screen VistaSwitcher will be displayed. Also useful is that the tool allows you to assign numbers to tasks and that it is possible to exclude applications from the task list.

I had a odd problem when I first tried VistaSwitcher. The tool always crashed whenever I switched to a WinSCP task. I reported the bug to the NTWind support and they sent me a fixed version on the same day.

I have already tried quite a few different application switchers. Most of them are better than Microsoft’s solutions. However, many of them are unstable. Obviously, it isn’t easy to modify such an integral part of Windows. Thus, it would be Microsoft’s job to take care of this very essential function. The Windows 7 taskbar is a step into the right direction, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. Perhaps, it would make more sense for Microsoft to integrate one of these third party solutions into Windows instead of lending ideas from the Cupertino guys.