How to get alt-tab on GNOME to cycle through applications like Windows?

"This worked for me in gnome 2.30.

System->keyboard shortcuts -> disable shortcuts for ""move between windows using a popup"" and ""move between windows immediately"" (select with mouse and press backspace)
Open terminal and type gconf-editor
navigate to apps-> metacity ->global keybindings

3a. for the entry : ""switch_windows"" type ""<Alt>Tab"" without quotes

3b. For the entry : ""switch_windows_backwards"" type ""<Shift><Alt>Tab"" without quotes
navigate to apps -> metacity -> general

4a. Disable compositing_manager (this gets rid of the super annoying delay before the popup displays when you press alt+tab)

hope this helps

Cheers/Raj K"

You can use software such as Compiz Fusion.