Alt-Tab Terminator is a free software program for Microsoft Windows devices that replaces the system's default Alt-Tab dialog with an optimized version.

The application is a direct successor of the tab programs VistaSwitcher and TaskSwitchXP.

A visual representation of all open programs is displayed to you when you use Alt-Tab on a Windows machine. Windows displays a visual snapshot of the program and the program's title in the Alt-Tab interface

Use keyboard shortcuts or the mouse to navigate and select programs that you want to switch to.

Alt-Tab Terminator

Alt-Tab Terminator replaces the default Alt-Tab and Windows-Tab functions of Windows with its own. It is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system.

The screenshot that you see above shows the new interface that you get when you use one of the shortcuts.

The free program displays program titles in a sidebar on the left and a larger snapshot of the selected program on the right.

The new display is a stark contrast to Windows' Alt-Tab function; instead of displaying snapshots of all program windows at once, Alt-Tab Terminator displays single program snapshots only.

You get larger previews of the program windows because of this but don't see snapshots of all programs anymore.

You can use the shortcuts Alt-Tab or Alt-Shift-Tab to navigate between open programs or use the mouse for that just like you could before.

Options to close the program, terminate the process, or open a new instance of the program. Windows' default Alt-Tab interface supports closing the program instance only.

The sidebar list of all program titles is useful. While you get titles displayed when you use Windows' Alt-Tab functionality, these titles are displayed on top of the windows. Alt-Tab Terminator's sidebar listing provides a much better overview of titles so that you may use the listing to select programs quicker.

A right-click on the program listing displays a context menu with mostly window state change options. Use it to close, minimize, maximize, restore or terminate program windows, or use run functionality. Each option is mapped to a keyboard shortcut for faster access.

Tip: Press F4 repeatedly to close programs one after the other using Alt-Tab Terminator.

The program comes with a handful of interface modifications; you can disable the Alt-Tab or Windows-Tab mapping of the program. If you like the new Windows Timeline feature of Windows 10 version 1803, you can disable Windows-Tab so that Alt-Tab Terminator's interface is launched only when you use Alt-Tab on the system.

You may also disable large icons displayed in the sidebar; useful if you have lots of program windows and instances open as it makes the whole title listing more compact. Speaking of compact, Alt-Tab Terminator supports a compact interface option which removes the program title listing and reduces the listing to icons only.

You can change the size of the interface, from the default setting medium to large, small or fullscreen.

Closing Words

Alt-Tab Terminator is a powerful program for Windows that replaces the default Alt-Tab function with an improved one that offers a better overview and customization options the default function lacks.