Windows 10 October 2020 Update, which is just a service pack style upgrade, was released in October. This update is a minor release, but it comes with two new features — theme-aware Start Menu and new Alt-Tab experience.
As you may know already, Alt+Tab is a popular multitasking keyboard shortcut that has been in Windows since Windows 2.0 and it was last updated in version 20H2 with a new feature.
Windows 10 20H2 modifies the way Alt-Tabbing works in relation to Microsoft Edge by allowing browser tabs to appear as a separate app window in the Alt-Tab screen.
Alt+Tab lets you switch between open windows on Windows 10 and you can also navigate between apps using the arrow keys. With Windows 10 October 2020 Update, Microsoft said it has improved the multitasking experience by including Microsoft Edge tabs in the Alt-Tab interface.
Microsoft believes that standard Alt+Tab is pretty basic and Edge tabs inclusion could allow you to navigate through your running tasks more easily.
Unfortunately, Alt+Tab interface is now broken for some users after they applied the Windows 10 October 2020 Update. According to reports and our own testing, a bug in the update could result in your Alt+Tab order changing unexpectedly and it will open the wrong window when you try to switch between apps.
For example, if you have three app windows open (A, B, C) and you’re trying to switch to the first window ‘A’, Alt-Tab interface will instead focus on the window after the intended one. When this happens, it can be observed that the selection on the Alt + Tab menu is not on the entry ‘A’, as it should be, but on the second entry ‘B’.
Several users confirmed the issue in the Feedback Hub and it looks like Microsoft is aware of the reports.
“Alt-Tab has started acting very inconsistent. For example, if I am quickly switching between windows A and B using Alt-Tab, it will be fine 9 out of 10 times. Then on the 10th time I’m using Alt-Tab, it will randomly switch to window C which I haven’t opened in a while,” one user noted in the Feedback Hub.
In one Feedback Hub post, Microsoft said that they’re investigating the reports and they’ve already fixed the issue in preview builds.
It’s likely that Microsoft will fix the Alt-Tab problems in a future update to Windows 10 October 2020 Update, but it may not arrive this year as the tech giant plans to release fewer updates until January.
