How do you disable miniature pop-up windows when hovering over icons in taskbar?

Anonymous
2009-11-17T20:57:10+00:00

Attempting to disable "small windows" that pop up when you mouse over icons in taskbar. Annoying me. They could be disabled in vista, but can't figure out how in W7. afraid i'm stuck with them. when i personalise and chose windows basic screen, "windows" become picture of icon. better, but still not good.

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Anonymous
2013-11-03T07:27:06+00:00

Method 1: is not available in Windows 7 Home Premium , only in the Pro version. And I could not find any registry value that would match the gpedit.msc corresponding option.

Method 2: works on my system. Without "ExtendedUIHoverTime" registry entry:

With "ExtendedUIHoverTime" registry entry:

So it prevents (for the number of milliseconds specified) the pop up of the taskbar thumbnail, but does not remove the additional (!) pop up (text box black on white) I guess known as "taskbar icon name".

After hours of investigation on the Internet, the only efficient solution I could find is indeed this light program that also brings lots of additional functionalities. It works also on Windows 8.1, does not change anything to the regular registry (quoting FAQ -> "The only registry keys the tweaker modifies are it’s own settings. There are no registry keys for the options it provides. The tweaker does that by injecting a DLL to explorer, hooking/subclassing/some other methods of the dark side.")

http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker

I now use it, no more registry manual manipulations ("ExtendedUIHoverTime" registry entry removed),  I love it.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-12-11T16:54:00+00:00

    Unlike most I want this feature to work, I watch a lot of streaming sports so it's great to have the feature.  My problem is that sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, no rhyme or reason.  I've got a fresh install so there shouldn't be any issues.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-12-03T00:48:13+00:00

    Agreed - the hover thumbnails are terrible. If you accidentally move your mouse too far down and click it opens up that window. Terrible terrible interface that seriously hurts my productivity and has screwed up too many WGT Golf shots. And what makes it worse is that is really isn't even a useful figure. It drives me crazy....and makes me want to return my new laptop.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-11-29T15:13:09+00:00

    Hover thumbnails are TERRIBLE.  This should be a simple Tast Bar and Start Menu Properties check box.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-11-22T01:12:56+00:00

    This doesn't solve the problem completely (as the gpedit.msc directions also did not work for me - for some reason those directions apparently only apply to Windows Vista users), but sometimes it's function over form.  Easiest way to get rid of those horribly annoying thumbnail pop-up windows (whatever they're called):  Right click on your desktop. Choose Personalize, and under Basic and High Contrast Themes, choose the Windows 7 Basic theme.  It's not as pretty as the "Aero" themes, but I hated those stupid thumbnails so I'll sacrifice the looks.

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