Mac OS 8.5 introduces a handy feature which lets you switch between currently running applications simply by holding down the Command key and hitting Tab. This takes you to the next application in alphabetical order. Hit Command-Shift-Tab to switch applications in reverse alphabetical order. You can, of course, still use the application menu in the upper-right corner of the screen if that's your preference.

But here's a neat trick: you can drag the application menu down into the screen, so that it becomes a floating palette with all running applications accessible with a single click.

If you don't like the look of this palette, that's no problem: click in the zoom box (second from the right in the title bar) for an icons-only palette which takes less space, or drag the right side of the palette to resize it to your heart's content. Just hold the mouse slightly inside the right edge of the palette until it turns into a cross pointer.

But that's not all. Want bigger icons? Option-click the zoom box. Do it again for small icons. Want a horizontal palette instead of vertical? Option-Shift-click the zoom box.

Super tip: Mac OS Help contains more than just useful hints about the applications palette. It also contains hyper-linked AppleScripts that let you customise it further. Open up Mac OS Help (from the Help menu) and search for "Application Switcher". Then click on the topic called "switching between open programs" and scroll down. There are several phrases highlighted in blue and underlined. Click on these for extra configuration options. One link makes the application palette hug the bottom left of your screen; if you have the palette oriented horizontally with filenames showing, this is disturbingly similar to the taskbar in Windows 95/98.