Change "Show Desktop" to "Minimize All"

I'd like to use Alt+Tab a lot when I'm programming under Windows. It's the quickest method to switch between windows. However, there's one annoying thing about this, and that is when I switch over to Desktop using Alt+Tab, Windows uses the Show Desktop functionality instead of minimizing all Windows.

I personally hate Show Desktop, since it creates a separate window on top of all the other windows which captures a live display of desktop, and this causes all the widgets I have on the desktop to be hidden under this live window, and I love my widgets.

An ideal behavior for when I switch tabs to Desktop using Alt+Tab would be the "Minimize All" behavior, which simply minimizes all windows, leaving me with my actual desktop, which sits behind everything. In order to achieve this, I have to move my fingers across the keyboard, and press Win+M, which just feels clunky.

How can I tell Windows to Minimize All rather than Show Desktop when I use Alt+Tab to Desktop?

Solution 1:

when I switch over to "Desktop" using Alt+Tab, Windows uses the "Show Desktop" command instead of minimizing all Windows. I personally hate "Show Desktop", since it creates a separate window on top of all the other windows which captures a live display of desktop, and this causes all the widgets I have on the desktop to be hidden under this live window, and I LOVE my widgets.

You can disable Aero Peek to prevent the overlaid window.

An ideal behavior for when I switch tabs to Desktop using Alt+Tab would be the "Minimize All" behavior, which simply minimizes all windows, leaving me with my actual desktop, which sits behind everything. In order to achieve this, I have to move my fingers across the keyboard, and press Win+M.

How can I tell Windows to use "Minimize All" rather than "Show Desktop" when I use my good ol' Alt+Tab functionality to switch over to desktop and save .5 seconds in time?

You can install an alternate Alt+Tab handler to customize the behavior. I can’t find any that currently include a default minimize all function (though VistaSwitcher does include some minimizing functionality), but you could easily just request it from the devs.