Win 7 OS display preview of all running programs on screen

[grok]

Just stumbed on this by accident and now I'm intrigued.. LOL!

There I was surreptitiously cleaning my mouse feet against the desk divider (don't diss hey, its the closest surface within reach providing the perfect carpety finish for removing stubborn mouse undercarriage gunk) when suddenly.. previews of all running programs promptly rearranging themselfs in below fashion on screen!



What is this sorcery? I'm kind of an old hand at alt- & windows key tabbing but where has this little piece of Microsoft ingenuity been hiding itself all along? I have to know, is there a shortcut? Google refuses to give up its secrets.

Thus far I've been able to recreate the conditions of the experiment twice, but it only works on the divider never on the desk. Why? I made sure I'm not pressing any buttons, so how am I even doing this? I fear I cannot carry on investigating for long, people are starting to lean over questioning my rubbing a mouse on cubicle walls in ciruclar motions with a slightly hysterical maniacal laugh.

Gimme the damn shortcut!

Please, I need this.. :wtf:

 

[Ho3n3r]

Just stumbed on this by accident and now I'm intrigued.. LOL!

There I was surreptitiously cleaning my mouse feet against the desk divider (don't diss hey, its the closest surface within reach providing the perfect carpety finish for removing stubborn mouse undercarriage gunk) when suddenly.. previews of all running programs promptly rearranging themselfs in below fashion on screen!

View attachment 339246

What is this sorcery? I'm kind of an old hand at alt- & windows key tabbing but where has this little piece of Microsoft ingenuity been hiding itself all along? I have to know, is there a shortcut? Google refuses to give up its secrets.

Thus far I've been able to recreate the conditions of the experiment twice, but it only works on the divider never on the desk. Why? I made sure I'm not pressing any buttons, so how am I even doing this? I fear I cannot carry on investigating for long, people are starting to lean over questioning my rubbing a mouse on cubicle walls in ciruclar motions with a slightly hysterical maniacal laugh.

Gimme the damn shortcut!

Please, I need this.. :wtf:

Upgrade to Windows 10, not sure it's exactly the same thing, but it has Task View, with a shortcut next to the Start button.

Alternatively, you can try the shortcut and see if it works in 7 (Alt+Tab I think).

EDIT: Or Windows Button + Tab.

EDIT: Nope. Just tried it on my work PC and it's not the same thing.

 

[Electron1]

Damn you, now I have tried moving the mouse on the divider with no success.
Does your mouse have side buttons as well as the the left and right.
Tried clicking the wheel and left right buttons. No success.

 

[mercurial]

WinKey + Tab?

 

[Ho3n3r]

WinKey + Tab?

Nope. Brings up this:

 

[Johnatan56]

Upgrade to Windows 10, not sure it's exactly the same thing, but it has Task View, with a shortcut next to the Start button.

Alternatively, you can try the shortcut and see if it works in 7 (Alt+Tab I think).

EDIT: Or Windows Button + Tab.

EDIT: Nope. Just tried it on my work PC and it's not the same thing.

Windows 10 has this:


@OP, ctrl+alt+tab?

 

[Electron1]

@OP do you have special mouse software e.g. Microsoft mouse
http://superuser.com/questions/428815/shortcut-key-to-display-all-windows-7-windows

 

[Ho3n3r]

Windows 10 has this:
View attachment 339266

@OP, ctrl+alt+tab?

:erm: Well, yes...

 

[grok]

@OP do you have special mouse software e.g. Microsoft mouse
http://superuser.com/questions/428815/shortcut-key-to-display-all-windows-7-windows

I'm running setpoint it's a Logitech mouse, but might have old ms stuff still setup. Still, it remains a mystery to me..

11:17 Aha, ye gods be smiling on my little experiment, our servers just went down so I have a bit of time to dig

11:20 Just managed to recreate the situation on the destop by pressing down really hard on the mouse, so Electron is prob right it has to do with the mouse software

11:22 Getting closer.. found something on Setpoint called the application switcher



11:26 Found it.. !

When first handling the mouse, 5 buttons plus the scroll lock were all that I could see, along with the horizontal scrolling. There was one button that remained obfuscated, as it wasn’t even made clear on the product packaging. Hidden in plain site as it were, there’s an 8th button. The thumb rest itself is actually a button. The only hint was that of a small white dash on the base.

The button is firm and not likely to be pushed accidentally, even with an aggressive hold, since you have to push it right on the corner to activate. By default, this 8th button acts as a rather interesting application switcher. All available windows are brought onto the screen as an interactive mosaic of sorts. This is a very flamboyant update compared to the old version. Any of the displayed windows can then be selected and brought into view.

Sneaky Logitech with their secret spy buttons, but ain't nobody got time for reading manuals!

Thx for the help guys, Electron1 be the man, this was driving me slightly mad (with excitement)

ps. Servers are still down so now I need a different cure.. :erm:

Appswitch on.. yay! Appswitch off. Appswitch on.. yay! Appswitch off

 

[GreGorGy]

It has been on Mac OS X since the beginning and whenever I use win 7 I miss it. On OS X, you can set where it happens as a preference. I have used that win-tab before and I am pretty sure something happens when you hover over the little divider at the right bottom of the screen. But this is a gem - wish I knew of it earlier. Is it tied to the mouse?

 

[grok]

Yeah it's Logitech's Setpoint but sets itself up in control panel so may work with other mice.