Windows 7 Taskbar tooltips - major annoyance

robhol · Dec 25, 2009

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.

stimpy · Jan 11, 2013

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.

robhol · Jul 19, 2011

No, unfortunately not. I even took to messing around with half a dozen different shell replacements, and started wondering about the possibility of coding my own taskbar replacement...
I've made sure the registry hacks in this thread are in, but it doesn't seem that they're doing much, unfortunately.

Some hypotheses:
- Explorer fails to "clear" hovered status for buttons. In other words, it keeps thinking you're hovering it, leading to the tooltips and menus.
- Time aspect. After restarting explorer.exe it shuts up for a while. No data on how much time passes before it starts, though.
- Ridiculously resistent to most "solutions" I've tried.

I'd also like to say thanks to all the participants in this thread for trying.

Elmer · Jul 19, 2011

I have the normal "pretty picture" taskbar thumbnails. However, when working in Photoshop they can be a real pain in the ar neck.

I run this as a reg file and reboot. Gives me 60 seconds to get out of the way of the taskbar button before it pops up. Never had a problem with it.

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse]
"MouseHoverTime"="60000"

stimpy · Feb 17, 2012

robhol said:
- Explorer fails to "clear" hovered status for buttons. In other words, it keeps thinking you're hovering it, leading to the tooltips and menus.
- Time aspect. After restarting explorer.exe it shuts up for a while. No data on how much time passes before it starts, though.
- Ridiculously resistent to most "solutions" I've tried.

I sympathize with you, robhol, because I'm experiencing the exact same problem. Tooltips pop up when my cursor isn't even near the task bar.

I've noticed that the problem only appears to occur after running Photoshop CS5 for a while. Do you use that software regularly, too?

(I'm running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.)

Elmer · Feb 17, 2012

stimpy said:
I've noticed that the problem only appears to occur after running Photoshop CS5 for a while. Do you use that software regularly, too?

(I'm running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.)

See my post above yours. Works every time unless you like hovering over a button for more than sixty seconds. When finished this will restore it to default:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse]
"MouseHoverTime"="500"

Note that a re-boot may be required before the changes become effective.

Oh, and did I say "Welcome to The Forum Stimpy"!!

nexion · Dec 11, 2012

robhol said:
No, unfortunately not. I even took to messing around with half a dozen different shell replacements, and started wondering about the possibility of coding my own taskbar replacement...

I actually did that at one point. Wrote it in C# with some C++ elements. Anyways, this had also been driving me nuts. Like so angry I could club a baby seal.

Anyway... don't edit the registry. Open a window to explorer (aka My Computer), click your "Alt" key on the keyboard once, select Tools, then Folder Options, click the View tab, scroll down to "Show popup description for folder and desktop items", uncheck that. In fact while you are at it unclick Use Sharing Wizard and anything that starts with "Hide" to take a bunch of suck out of windows in one fell swoop!

Take care,

Nexion

stimpy · Jan 11, 2013

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.

Windows 7 Taskbar tooltips - major annoyance

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