What registry key controls the Alt-Tab aero peek (flip2d) delay?
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Monday, November 23, 2009 11:29 PMThe aero-peek functionality of the alt+tab app switcher (flip2d) is great once one gets used to it. Now I'd like it if the window preview were instantaneous instead of having an initial delay. I'm pretty sure this delay can be adjusted with a registry key but I haven't been able to find any documentation about it. So far, the aero-peek related registry entries that I've found are:
\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced ...
* DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime
* ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime
* ExtendedUIHoverTime
None of them affect the alt+tab delay.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
All Replies
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:52 AMModeratorHi gnz
Could you explain at what point the delay occurs?
I'm not seeing any delay here, when I press ALT+TAB the small window with the thumbnails appears instantly and each time the TAB key is pressed, each window appears instantly?
Let us know.
Thank You for using Windows 7Ronnie Vernon MVP
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009 1:57 PM
Could you explain at what point the delay occurs?
Hi, thanks for the reply.
Here is what happens: On a win7 system with aero enabled and the aero+peek functions working: Press alt+tab and the classic task switcher window appears immediately, while still holding alt and after some 1000ms the peek effect kicks in and all the currently visible windows fade out and the one currently selected in the switcher fades in as a preview. While pressing tab repeatedly every window in the task switcher is immediately previewed in full size like this so the delay affects only at the start of the function.
I would like to reduce the 1000ms to 100ms to have the peek preview effect happen almost immediately.
Since the delay of the other aero peek components (taskbar thumbnail preview, desktop preview) can be tweaked with the registry entries I listed, I am thinking that there must be another registry key for the alt+tab aero peek preview.
Does this make sense?
thank you. -
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 2:31 PM
Makes perfect sense. As you point out, it's clear that the effect can be immediate, because after the initial delay, each Tab operation immediately causes a different window to show.
The pertinent paths to settings in the registry seem to be these:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\DWMAeroPeekEnabled
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
Unfortunately there is no evidence of a latent delay parameter that can be used to accomplish what you're requesting.
EDIT: I just found this: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/5473/make-aero-peek-display-instantly-or-disable-it-in-windows-7/
-Noel -
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 3:10 PM
Hi, Yes I've also found several other references to tweaks to the aero peek delay. The thing is that all of them refer to either the desktop preview component or the taskbar thumbnail preview component and not the Alt+Tab one. It looks like the information on which reg key to edit for that is still only inside knowledge of microsoft. I hope they will want to reveal it.EDIT: I just found this: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/5473/make-aero-peek-display-instantly-or-disable-it-in-windows-7/
There are other people looking forward to finding this answer, here are other threads on the subject elsewhere on the internet:
http://www.windows7taskforce.com/view/3472
http://superuser.com/questions/45259/windows-7-alttab-transparent-windows-effect-delay/61959#61959
thanks,
Gnz -
Sunday, December 06, 2009 4:46 PMFor my $0.02, I would like to delay the initial response time to something like three seconds. For my tastes, the default 1 second delay time is too short. On the other hand, once the initial delay has been invoked, my system flips instantaneously to the new application for any subsequent presses of the Tab key, and a 1 second delay would be appropriate. I really dislike the quick changes of the whole screen -- I can usually get enough information from the Alt-Tab dialog box itself to know which application I want to switch into.
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Thursday, December 17, 2009 9:01 PMI would also like to find a way to increase the initial delay as it is actually slower for me to have to alt+tab through fully visulalized windows then to tap the tab key x number of times quickly to get me to the window I want. When I have a dozen or more windows open I don't have time to scan them before the ~1s initial delay transistions from thumbnails to full windows :(
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Thursday, December 17, 2009 9:09 PMYeah, to be honest I'd prefer a longer delay as well. I may just turn it off.
-Noel -
Thursday, December 17, 2009 10:53 PMAnswerer
The aero-peek functionality of the alt+tab app switcher (flip2d) is great once one gets used to it. Now I'd like it if the window preview were instantaneous instead of having an initial delay. I'm pretty sure this delay can be adjusted with a registry key but I haven't been able to find any documentation about it. So far, the aero-peek related registry entries that I've found are:
\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced ...
* DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime
* ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime
* ExtendedUIHoverTime
None of them affect the alt+tab delay.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Hi, gnz:
A person in the Spanish forums had the same question and this was my answer:
Open Registry Editor and create the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AltTab. In that key, create the following DWORD value: LivePreview_ms and set it to the delay (in milliseconds) of the first live preview.
You'll have to restart Explorer to see the results.
Enjoy!
Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience- Marked As Answer by gnz Sunday, December 20, 2009 9:48 AM
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Sunday, December 20, 2009 9:49 AMExcellent, now we've got the answer!. Thank you.
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Sunday, December 20, 2009 9:57 AMBTW, how on earth do you get this information? Is there any reference literature on windows registry settings? or do you have to work for microsoft? Thanks again.
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Sunday, December 20, 2009 5:53 PMA hacker might run something like PROCMON and watch what registry keys are being accessed. I'm just sayin'. :)
-Noel -
Sunday, December 20, 2009 7:52 PMAnswerer
BTW, how on earth do you get this information? Is there any reference literature on windows registry settings? or do you have to work for microsoft? Thanks again.
As Noel says, Process Monitor is a great tool that monitors the file system/registry and helps you discover some undocumented shell tweaks. I've discovered quite a few using this tool! You can download Procmon from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx
And no, I don't work for Microsoft.
P.S: Speaking of Alt+Tab in Windows 7, you can even customize the number of columns and rows of open windows you want to display. In the registry key I mentioned above, create two DWORD values: Rows and Columns and set then to the number of rows and columns you want to display in Alt+Tab, respectively.
(Based on my investigation, the maximum number of columns/rows is 20, the minimum number of columns is 3 and the minimum number of rows is 1.)
Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience -
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 6:20 PM
Daniel, great info - thanks a lot!
P.S: Speaking of Alt+Tab in Windows 7, you can even customize the number of columns and rows of open windows you want to display. In the registry key I mentioned above, create two DWORD values: Rows and Columns and set then to the number of rows and columns you want to display in Alt+Tab, respectively.
wish all final releases were as good as windows 7 *Beta* -
Saturday, January 30, 2010 4:52 AMNoel - I tried PROCMON to see if I could find if there was a registry key controlling the popup delay of the auto-hide behaviour of the Win7 taskbar. I would like to increase the delay time before the taskbar pops up from its autohide mode. Unfortunately, no joy... either the key doesn't exist, or I don't know how to find it.
Can you offer any advice how to sleuth out this info?
Thanks
Jack -
Monday, April 26, 2010 9:27 AMGreat, thanks for the tip! Definitely helped to reduce the headache caused the new Alt-Tab feature.
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Monday, May 16, 2011 10:58 AM
Daniel,
I've seen this information, as well as your other UI twak to change the number of rows / columns in the Task Switcher. I'm having a SERIOUS issue though with something and thusfar have been unable to identify a resolution which is probably simply the stting of a registry key. The problem is that I invoke the Task Switcher (ALT+TAB), after that 1000ms delay and Aero Peek is invoked, the Task Switcher pane itself goes BEHIND the curently selected window, thus obscuring its visibility. This isn't the case when Windows first starts up; It only happens after I have clicked anything on the Taskbar or the Start button. Once I've done that though, it's broken for the remainder of that session. What's more, this is only an issue on two user accounts on this system, not the third, which is what leads me to believe that something, somewhere, somehow, has stomped on a registry key that has caused the Z-order of the task switcher to move to the back instead of the front.
The problem does appear to be unique to Aero Peek, in that if I disable Aero Peek, the problem goes away (but at the cost of Aero Peek, of course). Any suggestions for what's causing this? I've blown one of my company's only four support incidents on this and have received no resolution. It's VERY annoying. I can send you a screenshot if my description isn't sufficient, but any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.
- James
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 3:03 PMAnswerer
Daniel,
I've seen this information, as well as your other UI twak to change the number of rows / columns in the Task Switcher. I'm having a SERIOUS issue though with something and thusfar have been unable to identify a resolution which is probably simply the stting of a registry key. The problem is that I invoke the Task Switcher (ALT+TAB), after that 1000ms delay and Aero Peek is invoked, the Task Switcher pane itself goes BEHIND the curently selected window, thus obscuring its visibility. This isn't the case when Windows first starts up; It only happens after I have clicked anything on the Taskbar or the Start button. Once I've done that though, it's broken for the remainder of that session. What's more, this is only an issue on two user accounts on this system, not the third, which is what leads me to believe that something, somewhere, somehow, has stomped on a registry key that has caused the Z-order of the task switcher to move to the back instead of the front.
The problem does appear to be unique to Aero Peek, in that if I disable Aero Peek, the problem goes away (but at the cost of Aero Peek, of course). Any suggestions for what's causing this? I've blown one of my company's only four support incidents on this and have received no resolution. It's VERY annoying. I can send you a screenshot if my description isn't sufficient, but any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.
- James
Hi, James:
Read this forum post, I think the symptoms are the same, are they?: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/90339db4-6f11-4c3c-af95-138ca62c7784
Microsoft MVP Windows Expert Consumer | http://www.wintecnico.com
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011 1:22 PM
I don't know why, but this doesn't work. Maybe this is for 32-bit only? Stopped working with SP1?
When you say "restart Explorer." do you mean Internet or Windows?
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011 7:41 PM
He's talking about Windows Explorer, which also runs your desktop. Restarting Explorer is a matter of doing something along these lines:
- Close your applications so that you only have the desktop.
- Run the Task Manager.
- Switch to the Processes tab.
- Right-click on Explorer.exe and choose End Process. You should see the Taskbar go away. Do NOT close the Task Manager.
- Under some conditions Explorer will restart itself. If it doesn't, continue...
- Go to the Applications tab in the Task Manager and click the [New Task...] button.
- Enter Explorer.exe. The Taskbar should reappear.
Another, much less geeky way to get a fresh copy of Explorer running is to log off and back on again.
-Noel
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Friday, January 27, 2012 9:59 PM
For what it's worth - you actually don't have to restart explorer for the alt-tab settings to take affect. If you *lock* your computer and unlock it, you can test the settings without having to reset your taskbar/system tray, or close all your programs.
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