Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall

When I started a new job, I inherited a wonderful (yes, that's sarcasm) PC fully loaded with some truly outstanding (yep, there it is again) tools and utilities. One of these was Microsoft's Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy. I hate it!!! It's slow and doesn't always work as expected. Anyway, I went to Add/Remove Programs, but there was no uninstall link. I tried to browse thru the Program Files and Windows directories, but didn't see anything there, either. I searched the web, but still couldn't find a way to get rid of it. Finally, I figured I'd try to reinstall it. Turns out that the MSI file gets placed in the C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Installations directory. Just run that, choose "Remove," then reboot, and you should be good-to-go!

posted on Thursday, April 07, 2005 8:48 AM

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# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 5/23/2005 12:59 PM RellimCire

Nice job... this was driving me nuts as well. Thanks for the tip

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 7/15/2005 6:08 AM Vik

Awesome .. this thing was driving me crazy ! who comes up with these useless "enhancements" ?

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 12/17/2005 8:05 AM gus

I still can't get rid of it on my computer. I went through the steps outlined above, and XP tells me it's been uninstalled, but when I reboot, it's still there. It's driving me nuts.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 12/19/2005 4:34 AM Michael Flanakin

You might want to try searching thru the registery; but do so at your own risk. I don't know where it is in the registry and don't really want to reinstall it to find out. Try downloading the latest Alt-Tab Switcher, installing, and uninstalling it from the same MSI file. That might work, but there's no telling. You do have an odd situation.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 5/9/2006 9:44 AM jc

Thanks for the way to remove!!! It worked for me after I shut down and restarted.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 10/20/2006 11:31 AM osadeh

Got it!
Go to C:\WINDOWS\system32 and remove the TaskSwitch.exe file (you migt have to kill a process for that). It worked for me after all the previous solution didn't
HTH,
Oren

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 11/13/2006 6:55 AM Zom-B

I tried everything to delete it. I found the msi file by myself. Uninstalling didn't work. I cannot reboot because the compoter is doing important calculations (thank god for batteries and stand-by mode) and I found no reference to it in the registery whatsoever. Also I couldn't find TaskSwitch.exe anywhere on my system disk. Eventually I found that a program TaskSwitch was still in the active processes list in Task Manager although it probably has already been deleted by the uninstall. A simple End Process solved it without reboot!

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 12/25/2006 7:53 PM Ongle

Thanks man...

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 2/18/2007 3:19 PM troutinator

Thanks, it sounded like a cool tool but it sucks, especially when combined with TweakUI and
"Focus Follows Mouse". Now its gone and I'm back to the normal task switcher. (OSX is better!)

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 4/4/2007 8:55 AM Prof K

Woosh, what a relief! Thanks, guys

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 5/16/2007 2:31 AM Ravi Datta

Thanks for this info. Very very useful

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 5/17/2007 1:44 AM Harish

Thanks a ton.

I have the regular alt tab option now :)
It initially seemed a good idea, it gives a description of the windows.. I realised it was usless after installing and was breaking my head to trash it !

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 6/11/2007 10:22 PM Rishabh

Thanks... Finally rid of it.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 8/22/2007 12:52 AM carolyn

T-H-A-N-K Y-O-U ! Boy, a preview of that would have saved me a load of agravation.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 9/26/2007 1:49 PM dave

THANK YOU! This was driving me nuts as well. I didn't like it when I had it at home, and then this work pc had it installed. YUCK!

Dave

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 11/5/2007 4:28 AM Mike

THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 11/5/2007 12:43 PM James

TY!!! You are a life saver. It seemed cool at first, but it just wasn't switching windows. I would have to repeatedly alt-tab to to get out of my current window and eventually ended up using the mouse. Annoying!!! Developers should thoroughly test their stuff before they release it. XP and Vista really need to think about emulating Linux with some of their UI stuff. You would think they learned by now...

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 2/14/2008 1:49 PM Westy

Great info! Thanks!!!

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 2/28/2008 10:31 AM Ryan

Thanks, it was causing problems iwth some home grown software at work and they didn't want to track down the issues.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 3/19/2008 1:42 PM Thu Ya Win

You may have to restart the computer to remove it completely!

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 3/21/2008 1:58 PM Ken Rayadon

Thank you SO MUCH for helping me remove this crappy "add- on"!

NOTE TO OTHERS WHO CAN'T GET IT TO WORK:
RESTART THE COMPUTER! It's still there until you reboot!

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 4/7/2008 7:42 PM Greg

Thanks a lot...IOU Iwas trying this one for hours :-)

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 5/5/2008 10:41 AM Peter

Very useful tip!

I'm so glad that I don't have anymore that alt-tab task switcher.
I also got it from my employer.
IT HelpDesk guys must have been extremely bored to install this crappy tool.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 6/30/2008 3:16 PM James W Cheng

Thanks for the tip! I was getting a little frustrated

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 7/4/2008 5:56 PM diggi

As stated above: "it sounded like a cool tool but it sucks"
Seems to switch between windows and not programs.
Thanks for this tip. It was annoying.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 7/12/2008 9:37 AM PP

You are my hero!! Thank you so much.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 7/28/2008 4:44 AM Greg

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!=)

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 9/9/2008 7:55 AM Steve

Thanks! Deleted TaskSwitch.exe and life is good again.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 9/10/2008 9:31 AM jul

Thanks, man! When killed TaskSwitch process winamp doesn't appear in alt-tab list when always-on-top and avant browser produces only one icon!

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 9/10/2008 9:47 AM jul

Uninstall unsuccesful. But removed TaskSwitch.exe from ...\system32 and from ....CurrentVersion\Run\ section in registry - Happy Man Now.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 11/11/2008 5:02 AM Francesco

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 11/11/2008 5:05 AM my name

Another word of thanks from me!

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 11/12/2008 5:08 AM Tracey

I was hoping this would work for me... but no... sigh! I have a new Vista machine that I installed the XP PowerToys on in error - D'oh!
Now I can't get rid of them... they won't uninstall from Remove Programs, and using Regsvr32 to uninstall the DLL's I've got splatted all over C:\Windows\System32\ShellExt just results in still more messages at bootup, and menu options that remain there & won't work.
I have a horrible feeling that I have to trawl through the registry and remove them, as I know they're in there.... but I'm really unhappy about guessing at the entries to remove!

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 12/2/2008 2:14 PM Jan

THANKS!!! Removed for good.

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 12/16/2008 4:50 AM rids

thanks....
it was crazy..
thanks a lot..

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 1/6/2009 7:58 PM Freek

Just kill TaskSwitch.exe from task manager...

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 2/3/2009 2:42 PM Mark

thanks for the solution!
danke für die Lösung!

# re: Win XP Alt-Tab Switcher Powertoy Uninstall 10/23/2009 7:23 AM Carl J

Thanks v. much, that powertoy was awful.

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