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It's hard to search and to explain it, being English not my native language, anyway I'll try:

ALT+TAB works fine on my PC, but only if I use just keyboard; I was used to use it in conjunction with mouse: I pressed alt+tab, then I clicked on the desired window.

But it does not work anymore: mouseclick does not have any effect on window selection; indeed, the mouseclick is not detected by the app-switch-popup, but by the window behind!

I am using Windows 7 but I am not administrator of my office PC.

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  • Tab + mouse click is not a familiar action. What did you expect ? Point select? When did it work?
    – Tony Stewart EE75
    Commented Sep 4, 2020 at 14:35
  • 1
    Are you very sure this used to work. Alt-Tab then select by mouse does not work in Windows 7. It does work in Windows 10. This is the same machine at the same time with the same mouse.
    – anon
    Commented Sep 4, 2020 at 14:37
  • I think I am doing it since Windows Xp.... It always worked, and it keeps working in Win10. It worked in my Win 7 PC for years, then something happened. Random access by mouse is much faster than serial access by alt+tab!
    – jumpjack
    Commented Sep 7, 2020 at 7:11

3 Answers 3

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This is not exactly an answer but a workaround: it looks like the only way to use mouse in conjunction with "apps switching" is replacing ALT by WIN key. It's not exactly the same because windows are not shown all together but must be scrolled/browsed by mousewheel, but at least the mouse-click works to select the desired window.

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A .reg file containing this text allows switching between new (Win7) and old (WinXP) taskswitcher:

  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
  "AltTabSettings"=dword:00000000
  • 0 or no key = new (Win7/Win10/Default: icons + thumbnails)
  • 1 = old (WinXP: just icons)

It looks like years ago I did set it to 1 to use the WinXP version, which now does not work anymore with mouse. But Windows 7 version works fine with mouse, and I can click on any of the thumbnail to switch to the app.

This .reg file also works on Win10.

You may need to logoff and logon, or to completely delete the key, for changes to take effect. (I need to delete and logoff/logon to switch to Win7 style but not to switch to XP style)

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1

Found another answer: "it depends on applied theme".

  • If I apply a generic Win7 theme, the App Switching Dialog shows clickable miniatures of the windows.
  • If I apply "Windows classic" theme, ASD switches back to Win95 theme, showing icons rather than miniatures, and they are not clickable
  • If I apply "Windows 7 basic" theme, I have a mix: Win95 style, but clickable icons
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