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How do I disable the taskbar thumbnail previews in Windows 8?

Anonymous
2012-12-08T02:47:13+00:00

I recent installed Win8 and I'm liking it so far (with some third party tools to make it usable).

One thing that I can't seem to fix is the taskbar previews. My eyesight's horrible so the preview windows just get in the way, and text would be more useful. I know this is fixable in Win7, but the methods used for that don't seem to apply here.

http://imgur.com/M8XDq

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Anonymous
2013-09-10T08:30:28+00:00

Turns out the Taskbar Thumbnails Tuner link somebody else posted works by changing the following 2 registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Create new DWORD: "ExtendedUIHoverTime" and set it to a really high number (it's in milliseconds) to delay the preview popup virtually forever (over 7 weeks, anyway). Apparently it doesn't like it if you set it to exactly 0xffffffff, I think it treats it as 0. But 0xfffffffe works just fine. Kind of weird.

and

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband

Create new DWORD: "NumThumbnails" and leave it at 0 to switch the previews to a list when you actually click on a stacked icon.

You'll need to restart Windows Explorer for it to take effect, easiest way is from the Task Manager.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-01-29T10:30:17+00:00

    How to edit Windows 8 registry to stop / prevent pop-ups / popups / thumbnails appearing when you hover over the taskbar?

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-12-08T23:43:27+00:00

    HC doesn't change anything. Could you please explain how they reduce clutter? It's a huge bulky picture that pops up when I just want to see a list of tabs or windows used by an application.

    After looking at the first thing you suggested, I think you may have misunderstood what I'm trying to fix. The icons in the taskbar are great. The preview windows that pop up when you mouse over them or click on them are not.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-12-08T06:37:48+00:00

    text would be more useful

    Looks like you should try using  Taskbar Property Never combine  and resize your Taskbar.   I don't see a way to disable the thumbnail previews but I'm surprised you don't like them because using them has the effect of reducing clutter.   They are an Aero feature and that is deprecated and hidden.  So, if there is a way to disable it, it will be by registry hack or third-party tweak program.   I also tried to see if switching to High Contrast mode would disable them but it appears that I have too much open ATM to let HC work normally.   Press LeftAlt+LeftShift+PrintScrn  if you want to try that test for yourself.

    HTH

    Robert Aldwinckle

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