No, don't. C-b is a much better shortcut than C-a.

I agree, am i the only one using C-a in bash?

actually i'm using M+n (M=alt, n=number) to switch windows and i use M+[hjkl] to switch to left right top down window

Perhaps a nice C-f then?

I recommend the backtick: `

The only two pains that come with it are a) having to type `` to get a single `, and b) pasting anything containing a backtick behaves as if you'd typed it out.

I unbind M-Space from my window manager and use that for my prefix as well as for jumping to last window.