Shortcut key to display all Windows 7 windows?

I'm trying to see if Windows has a built-in shortcut for viewing all the open windows on your box using a keyboard.

Something like this (Ubuntu example):

We have a Microsoft Touch Mouse that allows for this feature, but it's getting frustrating accidental clicking it and having it impede our work by bringing up all open windows.

Can someone please help? We're trying to get more efficient and I've spent the last 2 days (4-5 hours each day) looking for a solution. JOKE

2 Answers

There are two built-in ways and several third party tools¹ that let you take a peak at all open windows. All make use of some Aero features that have to be enabled.²

• Win + Tab shows all windows stacked and skewed.

• Alt + Tab shows all windows side by side.

  The thumbnails are pretty small, but you can adjust the size with the following registry keys:

  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AltTab MaxThumbSizePx = DWORD : XXX (decimal) MinThumbSizePcent = DWORD : 100 (decimal)

  If XXX is roughly one eighth of the screen width, the thumbnails will use all available screen width.³

¹ Switcher, for example, lets you rearrange the thumbnails at will.

² Instructions to enable the necessary Aero features:

1. Press Win + R.

2. Run control system.

3. Go to Advanced system settings -> Performance -> Settings...

4. Check Enable desktop composition and Use visual styles on windows and buttons.

5. Click OK.

³ Result:

alt+tab shows all open windows (in thumbnail-size previews), and is currently the only way that Windows natively supports this functionality.