Windows 7 Taskbar tooltips - major annoyance

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robhol

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Dec 25, 2009
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So, I'm using Windows 7 at the moment and am trying not to let it annoy me all the way back to XP.

Here's the deal. Windows 7's so called "super bar" (although it's really more like "super-annoying bar") constantly goes into some kind of tooltip frenzy. Random buttons (one at a time, mind) will display a tooltip with the window title for that button, etc., and this happens when my cursor isn't even CLOSE TO the taskbar itself, let alone the relevant buttons... When I hover over the 'tip, or the button, it will go away, but then, when I remove the cursor and try to continue what I was doing, the pesky tooltips start appearing again...

I'm also getting these "select-a-window" menus often. They show up quickly and go away quickly, but the point is, they are in my freaking WAY, and I'd like to get them to stop.

Is anybody else experiencing this? How can I make it stop?
Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
S
There's a Q/A on Microsoft's support forum that discusses this issue. It also contains some solutions:

Why does the tooltip display on taskbar icons when I am not hovering - Microsoft Community

A very simple, temporary fix is killing dwm.exe. (It's the Desktop Window Manager that takes care of Aero effects, and it will restart itself, causing the glitch to go away for the time being.)

Supposedly the problem is caused by video drivers misbehaving. The general suggestion is to update them.
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The problem seems only to go away when clicking a taskbar button... am I seriously the only one to have this problem?? 0.o
 
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Welcome to the forums, robhol.

will display a tooltip with the window title for that button, etc., and this happens when my cursor isn't even CLOSE TO the taskbar itself, let alone the relevant buttons...
Click to expand...

Windows 7 has many key cobinations to evoke previews:

Win Tab - Flip3D
Alt Tab - Flip 2D
Win T - show taskbar previews

Check if your Win key is sticky, it should not be sticky whether physically or virtually. Win U - additional customizations.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


To disable/reenable taskbar previews:

1). Switch to basic/classic themes.

or

2).gpedit.msc

1. Click on start and type on search bar gpedit.msc and press enter

2. Now navigate to User Configuration, Administrative Templates, and Start Menu and Taskbar in left pan of Group Policy Editor

3. Locate “Turn off Taskbar Thumbnails” in right pan of Group policy editor and double click on it.

4. Select Disable click apply and Press ok. Later you can reenable it.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Take your time and have the best practices with 7.
 
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Thanks for the reply.

I doubt the win key is the issue, since this often happens while I'm typing, and between all the Win+[key] shortcuts, I think a -lot- of stuff would happen if it were detected as "pressed".

Since I'm getting two.. "apparitions", I decided to grab a screen of them both, to show you exactly what I'm talking about.
Link Removed - Invalid URL

The thumbnail you're talking about is disabled, and I think the menu is designed to replace it somehow.
 
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I'd really like some help with this. I'd rather not go through all the trouble of reinstalling Windows XP, but if I have to, I totally will.
 
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Right-click on the taskbar, choose New > Toolbar an d use Windows Explorer to navigate yyo..............going to C:users\youusernsme\AppData\Microsoft\Windows\Internet Explorer and choose the Quick Launch folder you now have the Quick Launch bare also. Uncheck Show Text and show title I'm on Windows Server right know, but I think that's correct
 
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Did you try cybercore's gpedit solution? Usually works. However, if you are using a home edition of Windows 7, you will not have that facility. In that case, try to do it manually:

it’s also possible to manually set or configure the registry key to disable Taskbar thumbnails function.
  1. Click on Start button and type RegEdit
  2. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
  3. In rare cases, the key may not exist. Then right click on Policies and click New -> Key and name it as “Explorer”.
  4. In the right pane, right click on a blank spacce, and then select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.
  5. Type TaskbarNoThumbnail as the name for the new registry value data.
  6. Double click on TaskbarNoThumbnail to modify its value data.
  7. Type 1 and click on OK.Logoff and logon again or restart computer if needed.
  8. If ever you wish to reinstate the taskbar thumbnails , right click on TaskbarNoThumbnail and click Delete to remove the whole registry key, or set TaskbarNoThumbnail value data to 0. (easier)
Iif you are unhappy with messing with the registry, then I have attached two files which will do it for you. Unzip and you will see the relevant file there. just double click it to run it, and it will make the needed alteration for you.
 
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reaqding them but obviously not understanding your problem. I can see they are pretty mobile, but is there any possibility of a screen shot?
 
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Clear now, I'm not sure if it is possible to get rid of the Aero previews text pop-ups completely, but you may want to take a look at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Advanced

EnableBalloonTips > 0 to disable
ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime > I guess time in ms


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Advanced]
"EnableBalloonTips"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Advanced]
"ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime"=dword:11111111

which is supposed to disable baloon tips and increase the mouse hover time.
 
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My apologies to robhol.
I don't know what went wrong, but I seemed to lose out on this thread. I had a very severe case of bronchitis and pleurosy, which I will lamely blame.
I hope I did not discredit the site in your eyes, too much.

Thank you (sarcasm intended) to whoever gave me not one, but two, discredit points
 
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Shouln't the DWORD value for ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime be 00000001?
 
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robhol said:
There already is one.. post #4
Click to expand...




When you click on a topic, it often takes you to the last post made, so it is not hard to miss posts. This probably happened in this case, and it happens with every forumer sometimes. Should say that RAK has been very polite and helpful at this forum, it's just this non-standard problem a little hard to approach for all of us.
 
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OK, just wondering as DWORD values are usually 00000000 or 00000001.

If you talking ms, I'd say it shoud ne a reg_sz entry with the ms time.

Just my opinion.
 
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reghakr said:
OK, just wondering as DWORD values are usually 00000000 or 00000001.

If you talking ms, I'd say it shoud ne a reg_sz entry with the ms time.

Just my opinion.
Click to expand...


Quite often DWORDs are 0 or 1, but not at all only, take for example ExtendedUIHoverTime DWORD-32 = 400 under this same branch:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre nt Version\Explorer\Advanced

as well as many others (like StartMenuInit DWORD-32 = 4), etc.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I understand :

DWORD-32 values are 32-bit values

REG_SZ values are string values

Why do you suggest a string value for ms ?
 
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Robhol - did you ever solve this? I have the same issue - taskbar text randomly appearing and obscuring the app I'm trying to work in.
 
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