ActivateByNum Adds Windows 7 Task-Switching Keys To Vista Or XP
Windows only: Tiny utility ActivateByNum mimics the Windows 7 shortcut key combination for quickly switching between open windows—you can simply use Win+n to choose open windows based on their position on the taskbar.
If you are using the Windows 7 release candidate already, this ability is built right in—simply use Win+1 for the first taskbar button, Win+2 for the second, and so on, to switch between open windows based on their position in the taskbar. If there is more than one instance of your application running, using the shortcut key again will switch to the next open window in the series, similar to Mac’s Cmd+` shortcut key combination. Once you’ve downloaded and launched ActivateByNum, you’ll have the same feature in XP or Vista.
If this seems familiar, it’s because you could use the same shortcuts in Windows Vista to launch applications from the Quick Launch bar, but ActivateByNum overrides those keys to provide the Windows 7 behaviour.
ActivateByNum [Google Code]
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
I use the Wonderful Icon to achieve something similar. I assign Win+1, Win+2, etc to launch apps and set "bring to front" if the app is already running. This way I know Win+1 always opens fb2k.
Does Windows 7 let you assign Win+Numbers to specific apps?
h3028
@bobbo33: You should report that as an error :(
Nice script, though :)
I find that it's a bit more convenient than alt-tabbing. Just a bit. If nothing else, it's a nice break from the older way. In any case, my geek self is amused.
paintbox
If you like Vista's Quick Launch keys, here's an Autohotkey script I wrote that does brings that feature to XP:
http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic17618.html
(Blasted commenting! Apparently you can only use the html "a href=" tags when you first post, if you edit, all the tags are stripped! Boo!)
bobbo33
@atomicrabbit
I had always thought it was in case one of the tabs crashes it won't crash the entire browser. I believe they open in separate processes just like in Chrome, etc. Either way I might give this activatebynum a try.
@Eruanno: not sure about vista, but Windows 7 registers each IE8 tab as a separate item in the task bar. I guess this is so you can easily switch through tabs without having IE visible.
atomicrabbit
What's this? Internet Explorer? What strange and urban browser is this? Also, using several windows of said strange browser (rather than tabs)? GASP!