How many applications do you open at one time on you Mac? One? Not likely. Ten? Possible. My MacBook white always runs at least three applications at a time, with several windows for each and a constant switching among them.

I’m not much of a mouse person. I prefer to use keyboard and shortcuts whenever possible. So, two of my favorite combination of keys are Command + Tab to switch between apps and Command + Tilde (~) to switch between windows in one app.

Personally I don’t feel this two steps process as a problem – maybe like a more organized way of working. But for recent Windows switcher the process could feel a bit annoying. There’s an easier way, though. Use Witch, a small application from Peter Maurer which behave similar to Alt + Tab in Windows – switching between windows of all open applications.

After you download and install Witch, a new Preference pane will appear and you can configure the way this application behave exactly the way you want, including the key combination to use in the “Triggers” tab. As the default shortcut key, Witch assign Option + Tab to switch between open Windows.

Witch also have something more to offer. It will automatically pull minimized windows out of the Dock when you switch to them. This one is my personal favorite features of Witch, and I’m sure most of Mac users will find this useful also.

The “Behaviour” tab will let users, among others, decide how should Witch sort the list of open apps. But maybe the most useful feature here is the Exception part, which lets users decide which windows should (not) be excluded from the list. If you want certain applications or certain windows with specific title out of the Witch list, here’s the place.

As an added bonus, the “Appearance” tab will let you decide on the cosmetics to wear, such as: theme to use or color combination to take on Witch appearance.

Last but not the least is the “About” tab which explain about the Licence. I think it’s fair to inform you that Witch is not a free application anymore (it used to be) and occasionally you will get some “friendly reminder” to buy the licence – which you should if you find this little app to be useful. But the nag is not too annoying and it seems that the developer will let the users use the unlicensed copy without time limit.

Have you tried Witch? Do you know other similar alternative? Share your opinion and experiences in the comment below.