How to Enable or Disable "Save Taskbar Thumbnail Previews" in Windows 7 and Windows 8
Information
This will show you how to enable or disable having taskbar thumbnail previews saved to a cache in Windows 7 and Windows 8.
This feature is not available in the Windows 7 Starter and Windows 7 Home Basic editions since they do not include the Aero feature.
OPTION ONE
Through Visual Effects Settings
Note
By default
Save taskbar thumbnail previews is turned off when
Adjust for best performance and usually
Let Windows choose what's best for my computer is selected in
Visual Effects, meaning images aren't cached when seeking a better performing system.
Save taskbar thumbnail previews is turned on and cached when you have
Adjust for best appearance selected in
Visual Effects though.
1. Open the
Visual Effects settings window in Performance Options.
2. To Enable "Save taskbar thumbnail previews" A) Check the
Save taskbar thumbnail previews box, and click on
OK. (see screenshot below)
3. To Not "Save taskbar thumbnail previews" A) Uncheck the Save taskbar thumbnail previews box, and click on OK. (see screenshot above)
OPTION TWO
Using a REG File Download
1. To Enable "Save taskbar thumbnail previews" A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.
Enable_Save_Taskbar_Thumbnail_Previews.reg
B) Go to step 3.
2. To Disable "Save taskbar thumbnail previews" A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.
Disable_Save_Taskbar_Thumbnail_Previews.reg
3. Save the
.reg file to your
Desktop.
4. Double click/tap on the downloaded
.reg file to merge it.
5. If prompted, click/tap on
Run,
Yes (UAC),
Yes, and
OK to approve the merge.
6. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
7. When done, you can delete the downloaded
.reg file if you like.
OPTION THREE
Manually Through Registry Editor
1. Press the
Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type
regedit, and press
Enter.
2. If prompted by UAC, then click on
Yes.
3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
4. In the right pane, double click on
AlwaysHibernateThumbnails. (see screenshot above)
5. To Enable "Save taskbar thumbnail previews" A) Type in 1, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This is the default setting.
6. To Disable "Save taskbar thumbnail previews" A) Type in 0, and click on OK. (see screenshot above)
7. Close regedit.
8. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
That's it,
Shawn