Taming Microsoft Word 2007’s File Associations and Document Windows, Part One

The other day, I sort of randomly posted about a number of the stupid little Windows Vista issues that bother me on a regular basis. It wasn't really that random. I had just recently had dinner with a couple of friends, also Windows enthusiasts, about some of this stuff and it was obviously in the back of my mind. One of the things I had brought up at dinner was an issue that's really a Microsoft Word bug (though I suppose it's this way by design). And Rafael, of Within Windows fame, told me he'd fix it. Well, he has. But before providing that information, he fills in some background about the issue and why it happens ... Last weekend, Paul Thurrott, Bryant Zadegan, and I met up downtown (Washington D.C.) for dinner and ranted on various issues that drive even the expert Microsoft Windows users up the wall. Oh and we even talked about the iPhone, but that’s another story. One of the gripes Paul had was with the z-order of his open windows being tampered with when opening two (or more) Microsoft Word documents. At first I thought of saying, what the hell are you talking about Paul, but resorted to the less abrasive: What? Paul explained that if you open a Word document, minimize it, open an Excel spreadsheet, then finally open another document, both Word windows come to front, preventing you from ALT-Tab'ing to the spreadsheet you were working in. So we have to wait for part two for the fix. :) Nice cliffhanger!