Windows 7: Menu Show Delay Time

   Information

This will show you how to change the amount of time it takes for a menu in Windows 7 to pop, fade, or slide open when you hover the mouse pointer over it.

This only affects the user account that you are currently logged on to.

   Tip

The Fade or slide menus into view and Fade out menu items after clicking Visual Effects options will also affect how fast menus open and close. Unchecking these options will help speed it up in addition to doing the steps in this tutorial below.

   Warning

If you set the MouseHoverTime setting, then it may override the MenuShowDelay setting in this tutorial.

OPTION ONE

Using a REG File Download

1. To Have a Fast Menu Show Time
NOTE: This changes the menu show delay time to 20 milliseconds.

A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below

Fast_MenuShowDelay.reg

B) Go to step 3.

2. To Restore the Default Menu Show Time
NOTE: This changes the menu show delay time back to 400 milliseconds.

A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below.

Default_MenuShowDelay.reg

3. Save the .reg file to the desktop.

4. Right click on the downloaded .reg file and click on Merge.

5. Click on Run, Yes, Yes, and OK when prompted.

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 TWO

Manually in Registry Editor

1. Open the Start Menu, type regedit in the search box, and press Enter.

2. In regedit, navigate to the location below.(See screenshot below)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

3. In the right pane of the Desktop key, right click on MenuShowDelay and click on Modify. (See screenshot above)

4. Type in a number between 0 to 4000 (400 is default) for how many milliseconds you want the Menu to wait before it opens. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: The lower the number, the faster the response time. If you use an entry of 0, there is no menu display delay. However it is not recommended to use 0 though since the menus may be hard to navigate through at that speed. 20 is a good number to use.

5. Click on OK to apply. (See screenshot above)

6. Close regedit.

7. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.