Why YSK: I had this experience this morning. I was raging because the “alt + tab” shortcut had changed on my work computer when it worked fine yesterday. Now it opened the task view, but wouldn’t switch windows unless I clicked on a different program.
I figured either windows had rolled out some new “feature” or the IT department had changed something without telling anyone. I kept trying different google searches but couldn’t find anyone talking about my specific issue. Tried restarting, changing “multitasking” settings, editing the registry.
Finally some old post prompted me to try “windows + tab” and that worked. I discovered the windows and alt tab had been switched. So I tried a different keyboard and it worked fine. Finally I learned that my main keyboard has a “Windows” layout and a “Mac” layout, and somehow I had accidentally switched them.
So I wasted a bunch of time, got upset and was mentally blaming others when the issue was on my end. And one sign I could have used to realize that was that apparently in the whole world of internet search results I was the only one experiencing the issue.
Troubleshooting is all about asking the right questions, the right way. You should never fully trust what someone thinks the problem is, even if that person is you 😅
As of today there is now at least one possible result for alt+tab opening task view and not switching as expected.
Also, learning to troubleshoot logically is a whole skill set by itself. It’s easy to think someone did something, and I believe that many people get stuck with that mentally over logically separating the issue and breaking it down to testable chunks.
Finally, great job solving the problem yourself! Many people would have admitted defeat, but you persevered and learned a few things.
