WinActivate not working in autohotkey script - windows-7

Question

I have the following AutoHotKey script to help me switch between different open apps, using a shortcut:
^!c::ToggleWindow("Chrome")
^!p::ToggleWindow("PowerShell")
ToggleWindow(TheWindowTitle)
{
SetTitleMatchMode,2
DetectHiddenWindows, Off
IfWinActive, %TheWindowTitle%
{
WinMinimize, %TheWindowTitle%
}
Else
{
IfWinExist, %TheWindowTitle%
{
WinActivate
;;; Tried using WinMaximize/WinRestore here but same result
}
Else
{
DetectHiddenWindows, On
IfWinExist, %TheWindowTitle%
{
WinShow
WinActivate
}
}
}
}
The problem is that for some apps it works only sometimes (for example, PowerShell and TortoiseHG Workbench) which is really frustrating. For other apps (Chrome, Thunderbird) it works always.
Here is what I've found so far:
If you explicitly minimize a "problematic" app then you can never activate/maximize the window using the AHK shortcuts. I'm not sure if there are other scenarios that prevent the shortcuts from working but this is one certain way to replicate the problem (at least for me).
Even in the cases where the shortcuts don't work, I can see that the target app icon in the taskbar is getting highlighted. I guessing it works somewhat halfway, activating the window but not actually showing it.
I think the problem is not restricted to AutoHotKey only because I can replicate this behavior just with the Task Manager. If I go to the 'Applications' tab, right click on on target app and choose 'Bring to front', the same thing happens. BUT, if I choose 'Switch to' instead, it works!
So, I guess my question is what exactly does "Task Manager->Applications->Switch to" do and is there an equivalent that I can use in AHK. My OS is Win7.

Answer 1

Try to put a #WinActivateForce in your script.
If you run AutoHotkey as normal user, it may be unable to manage program running as administrator (for example PowerShell). If that's the case, try to run AutoHotkey as administrator.

Answer 2

If you explicitly minimize a "problematic" app then you can never
activate/maximize the window using the AHK shortcuts. I'm not sure if
there are other scenarios that prevent the shortcuts from working but
this is one certain way to replicate the problem (at least for me).
According to AutoHotkey's release notes, this is a known issue which was fixed in AutoHotkey v1.1.20. (Released 1 month after this question was asked)
1.1.20.00 - March 8, 2015
Changes
Changed WinActivate to restore the window if already active but minimized.
Changed WinActivate to look for a visible window to activate if DetectHiddenWindows is off and the active window is hidden, instead of
doing nothing