Mouse Hover Time - Change

How to Change Mouse Hover Time before Pop-up Displays in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

This will show you how to change the delay time, in milliseconds, that the mouse pointer has to stay hovered on a item before tooltip popups display in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Special thanks to Aaron (Airbot) for pointing this out here.

   Warning

• This may also override your MenuShowDelay setting.
• If you have the Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu option checked in Visual Effects, then you may not see much or any difference. You should uncheck this option first before doing the tutorial below for the maximum effect.

OPTION ONE

Change Mouse Hover Time using a REG File Download

1. To Have a Fast Mouse Hover Time
NOTE: This changes the mouse hover delay time to 30 milliseconds.
A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.
30ms_Mouse_Hover_Time.zip


Download


B) Go to step 3.
2. To Restore the Default Mouse Hover Time
NOTE: This changes the mouse hover delay time back to 400 milliseconds.
A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.
Default_Mouse_Hover_Time.zip

Download


3. Click on Save, and save the .zip file to the Desktop.

4. Open the downloaded .zip file and extract the .reg file to the Desktop.

5. Right click the extracted .reg file and click on Merge.

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

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

8. When done, you can delete the .zip and .reg files if you like.

OPTION TWO

Change Mouse Hover Time Manually Through Registry Editor

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

2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse
4. In the right pane, right click MouseHoverTime and click on Modify. (See screenshot below)

5. Type in a number between 0 to 4000 (400 is default, I use 30) for how many milliseconds, and click on OK. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: The lower the number, the faster the response time. If you use an entry of 0, there is no delay before the tooltip opens.

6. Close regedit.

7. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
NOTE: As a test, hover the mouse pointer over a tooltip or Start Menu All Programs and see how much faster it opens.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Speed up the Menu Show Delay Time in XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 Pop-up Descriptions
• How to Change Start Menu Descriptive Text Pop-up Information in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Change the Windows 7 Aero Peek Mouse Hover Delay Time to Preview Desktop
• How to Change How Long Windows 7 Notifications Stay Open
• How to Change the Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Live Preview Delay Time
• How to Change Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Previews Display Delay Time

 

[Brink]

Hello Chrysalis,

I'm sorry, but I'm not able to reproduce what you described. I have MouseHoverTime set at 400 (default), then set MenuShowDelay to 100 and logged off and on to apply. The MouseHoverTime is still set at 400 for me, and MenuShowDelay to 100.

 

[chrysalis]

yes it stays set but the actual delay is 400.

I remember fixing this a few months back on my old install and then I reinstalled windows again after I built my i5, imported my reg tweaks but menu's were lagged, I thought was weird.

Checked my registry and found the mouse hover time is there by default to 400ms hence my problem, I renamed it to disabled and rebooted and problem fixed. I dont know if it is a bug or by design, quite possibly a bug since the name indicates it should be for tooltips only.

Try renaming or removing the key and leaving the menu show delay at 100ms, reboot and you will notice the difference.

 

[mmmelaney]

Hi. I have auto-hide set on my task bar. Which of these tweaks might get either the delay to be longer or the mouse hover to be less sensitive to it? It always gets in the way no matter where I put it, and I want the screen real estate. BUT I'd prefer my menus and tooltips be faster than default (if possible.) This has been a question of mine for years. Any ideas?

 

[Brink]

Hello Melaney,

I'm sorry, but this tutorial doesn't apply to the amount of time it take for the taskbar to auto-hide when the mouse pointer hovers over it. It only applies towards the time it takes to open the taskbar icon's preview windows, and tooltip pop-ups.

You should go ahead and post this issue in the Customization forum to see if you may be able to get a solution for this though.

 

[Shodan816]

THANK YOU ! I have been searching for a registry tweak for hours now to allow me to change my pop up hover time. This did it ! Thanks again...

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Shodan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[alfranatic]

I noticed,that i have to have the same numbers for both tweaks,or else the largest number will preveal:sarc:

 

[Ciara]

Thank you Shawn your good tutorial allowed me to change my Mouse Hover Time within reg edit and its working brilliant !

Ciara ... X

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Ciara. I'm glad that it helped.

 

[Edat7]

Mouse Hover Time

Hello. You suggest changing this value at one location. When I apply this tweak, I do a registry search for MouseHoverTime and find several matches and change all of them. Why do you not apply this tweak to all of the matches for MouseHoverTime in the registry?

 

[Brink]

Hello. You suggest changing this value at one location. When I apply this tweak, I do a registry search for MouseHoverTime and find several matches and change all of them. Why do you not apply this tweak to all of the matches for MouseHoverTime in the registry?

Hello Edat, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It's only required to be changed at the location in the tutorial for it to be applied to the current user account.

Plus, the other MouseHoverTime locations may not be for the same thing.

 

[ossjzb]

Thank-you. ( im JUST upgrading from Vista to 7.. rofls )..

 

[Brink]

You're welcome ossjzb. I hope that you'll enjoy Windows 7.

 

[o770]

Hello there. I'm looking for a way to delay the info/tooltips that display almost instantly on hovering of the cursor, like that for the applets in the Control Panel. I haven't looked for such items elsewhere but, according to our friend quoted below, these would be system items.
I was hoping that someone could verify this tutorial also works for such items and, if it does not, point me to the correct fix.

One thing I notice about tooltip notices, popups, whatever one should call them (for desktop icons, systems tray icons, and of course, start menu items, is that by default (even though I've unticked/deselected "Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu" and have yet to tweak the hover timing), I've noticed a difference in hover time for my desktop icons, etc., (about a full second) and the sys tray icons (which instantly display the tooltip 'pop-ups')...

 

[brainout]

wguru wrote: 'One thing I notice about tooltip notices, popups, whatever one should call them (for desktop icons, systems tray icons, and of course, start menu items, is that by default (even though I've unticked/deselected "Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu" and have yet to tweak the hover timing), I've noticed a difference in hover time for my desktop icons, etc., (about a full second) and the sys tray icons (which instantly display the tooltip 'pop-ups'). Maybe users might appreciate knowing why there are differences in hovered icon timings (between sys tray icons and all other hovered Windows items) eg; I suspect sys tray icons can't have their timing changed.'

Bingo. I did all the registry edits for Mouse Hover Time, etc. but none of that worked. What worked, was to change which toolbars house the icons. Desktop and QuickLaunch icons get almost immediate tooltips, whereas Taskbar and Notification tooltips are very slow to appear, no matter how you change the settings or edit the registry.

So how do you get the Quick Launch? Click here for a link in the forum where I first found it. Changed my life, oh boy.

So thank you, wguru!