How can I increase ALT+TAB "full-preview" time?

[Axonn]

Hi everybody ::- ).

One thing which has me perpetually angry at the ALT+TAB application selection window in Windows 7, is that after a time (about 1 second) it hides the window I triggered it from, replacing it with the window of the currently selected application.

So let's say I'm typing this in FireFox and I press ALT + TAB. As soon as I do this, a timer starts. When it reaches about 1 second, it just hides my FireFox and shows me my Outlook, because that's the next window I have opened.

I don't like this behavior and I would like to know how to change it.

When I hit ALT + TAB I sometimes do it just to see what I have opened or I take a bit more than 1 second to decide where exactly I want to jump. Hiding my currently focused window is distracting & annoying. So I would like to somehow increase that interval to 5-10 seconds. Is this even possible?

IMPORTANT:
- I found out about HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AltTab "LivePreview_ms" but it doesn't really do the trick. I set there 7000 (decimal) and it kinda' increased from 1 second to 2.5 seconds. Setting 15000 did no further change. Weird. And yes, I restarted explorer.exe all the time.
- I also found out about HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced "DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime" and that doesn't help either.

Thank you in advance!

 

[LuzTeTT]

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.

— "Win7 Alt+Tab 1 sec" in Google.

I've just tried it and it takes effect immediately.

 

[Axonn]

Hi and thanks for answering LuzTeTT. I already Googled that and, as I already said in my post: it does NOT work. It doesn't increase to more than 2.5 seconds apparently.

 

[LuzTeTT]

Hi and thanks for answering LuzTeTT. I already Googled that and, as I already said in my post: it does NOT work. It doesn't increase to more than 2.5 seconds apparently.

Please try decreasing the number to a lower one. e.g. 00000000

I'll elaborate a little on my findings.

With the dword key set to 00000000, the feature was disabled entirely upon restarting the window station.
With the dword key at a very low number like 00000001, the functionality was instantaneous.

There may be a cap on the number of time you can impose with the key.

 

[Axonn]

Done. I decreased to 100. Result: as expected, it's almost instantaneous, completely the opposite of what I wanted, but indeed it's a test that it's the CORRECT value. Then, I set it to 8000 and the result is: about 2.5 seconds ::- (. The value seems to somehow be capped.

 

[Axonn]

Yeah, there seems to be a cap on this value. Damn it.

Fortunately, the cap is something I can manage / live with. 2.5 seconds is much better than the default of 1 second. It's much less annoying ::- ).

 

[Axonn]

Actually, somebody from Microsoft also confirmed this limitation:

How can I increase ALT+TAB "full-preview" time?

Bummer!

 

[Dragon Drop]

There's another way to access that feature. You need a copy of the "Switch Windows" icon.
You may find it in the folder
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
Copy that icon into the folder
C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Accessories\System Tools
Then, in that folder, right-click the icon and get its Properties box.
If you assign a shortcut key to it, pressing that key will pop up the preview and it will remain unchanged until you select from it or click outside it. Use the mouse to peek by hovering and to select by clicking, or you can browse in it with the arrow keys.
Most shortcut keys assigned that way require Ctrl + Alt when you use them, but the F1-F12 keys don't.
If the icon isn't there, try searching for apps containing the word "Switch."
Good luck!