Defeat command-tab app switching in OS 9 and OS X

Oct 02, '03 10:44:00AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

One of the many things I hate about OS X is embedded Command-Tab switching. Come to think of it, I hated it in OS 9 as well. Before all of this 'digital lifestyle' business my primary use for my Mac was as a production machine at work running Quark in which Command-Tab switched between tools on the toolbar. Why Apple has been so fanatical about embedding Command-Tab switching into their operating system I will never understand. Anyway, I have two tips for stopping the Command-Tab problem once and for all, for those grizzled old-school Quark 'power-users' who care.

For OS X, my favorite solution is PullTab which has been mentioned elsewhere, availabe for free. It does, however, require the installation of Unsanity's Application Enhancer (also free). PullTab seems to effectively kill Command-tab switching in all of OS X.

In OS 9 or Classic, the problem is more involved. As far as I can tell, you must boot your machine into OS 9 first and then access the Mac Help Viewer, do a search for 'Switching between open programs,' and on that page is a link (towards the bottom) that will launch an AppleScript which allows you to change the keyboard shortcut the Application Switcher control panel uses, or to disable it completely.

Alternatively, you can run the AppleScript directly and skip the Help Viewer altogether. The script is located at /System Folder -> Help -> Mac Help -> fp -> shrd -> SetKeyboardSwitching on my machine.

Some may be tempted to access the OS 9 help viewer from Classic while it is running under OS X. I was unable to get the required AppleScript to run under these circumstances, but rebooting into 9 solved the issue. That's it, few may care but those who do and are stumped I am sure will appreciate the info.

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