Snappier Taskbar Thumbnail Previews by Disabling Animations

Depending on your configuration, when you hover your mouse pointer over active icons in Windows 7's Taskbar, thumbnail previews of folders / applications appear, and they do so with animation. For various reasons such as computer speed, graphics card speed, or personal preference, you might rather have these previews display quicker without the animation "eye candy".

1. Click the "Start" button, selecting "Control Panel".

2. If you are using an expanded Control Panel, select "System" from the pop-up menu.

Otherwise when the "Control Panel" window appears, click "System and Security", then "System".

3. In the left pane, select "Advanced system settings".

4. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, click "Yes".

5. The "System Properties" multi-tabbed dialog box appears. Click the "Advanced" tab.

6. Underneath "Performance", click the "Settings" button.

Accessing Performance Settings in Windows 7

7. The "Performance Options" multi-tabbed dialog box appears. Make sure the "Visual Effects" tab is selected.

8. Click the "Custom" radio button if it is not already selected, then uncheck "Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu".

Preventing Windows 7 from displaying animations in the Start Menu and taskbar, including thumbnail preview animations

9. Click "OK" on the dialog boxes to close them