14
3
When I hover my mouse cursor over a running application's button in the taskbar, small windows appear showing the contents of the open program. How can I disable that? I find it quite annoying.
Me Wowlol
Posted 2014-05-17T17:25:01.417
Reputation: 255
-2
In Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 hit the Win+W keys (for search) and type in visual effects hit Enter and in the Performance Options window uncheck the option Animations in the Taskbar. I think this will do the trick.
Devid
Posted 2014-05-17T17:25:01.417
Reputation: 5 566
8Does not work on Windows 8.1 – Chris – 2014-07-21T13:23:42.220
@Chris why is it not working ? It should work for Windows 8.1. Are you sure, 100% sure that it is not working ? – Devid – 2014-07-21T17:53:22.533
2 – Chris – 2014-07-22T06:26:58.580
@Chris after clicking on apply have you tried to restart your PC ? If yes then this must be a bug. Try then to disable it via the registry: http://www.askvg.com/how-to-turn-off-taskbar-thumbnail-live-previews-in-windows-7/
@Devid Yes, I restarted my machine after I changed that setting. In the meantime I have also set those two registry keys and restarted but still no luck. – Chris – 2014-07-22T15:59:57.783
5This doesnt work for me either. Windows 8.1 – spiderplant0 – 2014-10-31T13:39:36.033
Why is this answer getting so many downvotes? I mean the screenshot is saying to disable the wrong visual effect but that isn't a valid reason to downvote it. – Ramhound – 2016-05-19T16:39:34.530
Please +1 and check as answer :) – Devid – 2014-05-17T18:09:33.273
19
On Windows 8.1 you can get rid of it with these settings:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband]
"NumThumbnails"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"ExtendedUIHoverTime"=dword:41fffffe
Import them and restart Explorer. See here.
laktak
Posted 2014-05-17T17:25:01.417
Reputation: 2 223
Awesome, I was about to answer this, and then it turns out my answer is already linked here :) – Zook – 2014-08-30T18:25:42.850
this solution worked for me. – spiderplant0 – 2014-10-31T13:45:07.017
2I don't see the point of the NumThumbnails entry when the underlying mechanism here is just ExtendedUIHoverTime making it take a very long time to show up. – Drazen Bjelovuk – 2014-11-16T01:44:02.953
Indeed, you don't need NumThumbnails. Other than that, this is how you fix it on Windows 8.1. – T.J. Crowder – 2015-01-20T11:25:00.453
Confirmed working on WS2012 R2 and Win8.1, thanks Op! – Sean C – 2015-05-08T00:17:15.697
1This worked on Windows 10. – Shital Shah – 2016-09-15T23:28:18.180
yup, works on win10 for me too. – z8080 – 2018-09-07T15:29:06.020
6
A few options (I've only tested option 4):
Option 1: (I haven't tested this one)
Click on Start button and type RegEdit in Instant Search text box, then hit Enter.
In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Note: If Explorer registry sub-key does not exist, then right click on Policies and click New -> Key and name it as “Explorer”.
In the right pane, right click and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Type TaskbarNoThumbnail as the name for the new registry value
data.
Double click on TaskbarNoThumbnail to modify its value data.
Type 1 and click on OK.
Restart computer if needed.
To re-enable Taskbar thumbnails again, just right click on TaskbarNoThumbnail and click Delete to remove the whole registry key, or set TaskbarNoThumbnail value data to 0.
Option 2 and 3:
Install 7+ Taskbar Tweaker 4.5 - This does work on Win 8.1
In the Hovering section, check the box 'nothing'
Install Taskbar Thumbnails Tuner - According to one person who commented on this page (jonesy), it works in Windows 8.1, but I haven't tested.
At the bottom, check the 'Disable thumbnails' box
Option 4: (I've tested this one)
ᔕᖺᘎᕊ
Posted 2014-05-17T17:25:01.417
Reputation: 5 559
3No it doesn't. Thumbnails still happen with that unchecked. It probably controls the fade-in of the thumbnails, I bet they just appear with no fade if you uncheck it. – Zook – 2014-08-30T18:27:00.890
1Option #3 DOES work in Windows 8.1 when nothing else listed on this page worked. – Somantra – 2015-06-18T15:48:32.763
2Is this tested and working in Windows 8 ? Because I think the second option does not work in Windows 8.1. – Devid – 2014-05-17T17:52:15.233
The first option is copy-pasted from here without proper credit. Besides, it only works in Windows Vista.
@and31415 Sorry about the source, I forgot to link it, I actually got it from http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/b56e848b-ef2f-448c-961b-37ac5c27fd75/disable-thumbnail-popups-on-task-bar?forum=w8itprogeneral. EDIT: But on second look, it looks like that is the site Exotic Hadron was referring to
1In 8.1, "Animations in the taskbar" doesn't have anything to do with the hover thumbnails. – None – 2014-05-26T14:02:38.093
@fred It does, which is why Me WowLol accepted Devid's answer – ᔕᖺᘎᕊ – 2014-05-26T14:32:25.220
2
Do what it shows in the first example, but instead of unchecking "Animations in the Taskbar"; uncheck "Enable Peek" instead.
John
Posted 2014-05-17T17:25:01.417
Reputation: 41
This worked for me on Windows 8.1. Unchecking "Animations in the taskbar" did not. – Robert Harvey – 2014-11-30T00:05:56.747
1This will get rid of the desktop preview, but not the popups when you're over a task button. – T.J. Crowder – 2015-01-20T11:04:59.800
2
This works for me in Windows 8.1
http://winaero.com/download.php?view.27
Nothing else suggested worked
pablorenato
Posted 2014-05-17T17:25:01.417
Reputation: 51
Including the name and a description of the tool in your answer would be useful if, in the future, the link no longer works, which unfortunately does happen. – miyalys – 2015-10-04T21:52:20.747
AKA Windows Peek, I love this feature in Vista+... But I am also surprised there are no questions for this yet. – Austin T French – 2014-05-17T17:53:59.507