Solved Thumbnail preview disappear too fast in the task bar and Alt + Tab

[mdrattitude]

Hello everyone,

I have recently reinstalled my laptop with a windows 7 home version.
When i put my mouse on the different icons in the taskbar to check the windows opened it disapear very very fast and even sometimes when i'm fast enough to click on a thumbnail to change window, it's not taking that click.

I also have the same issue with the Alt+Tab feature, after 3 tabs everything disappear.

I have done some researches :
Editing the RegistryKey : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AltTab

Nothing changed , i have no idea if it can helps but i have a DELL xps 15z.

Best regards,
Clément

 

[cyanna]

1. shut down the laptop
2. remove the power supply and the battery
3. press and hold the power button 2-3 times and keep it pressed for 1-2 seconds --- obviously the laptop will not start!
4. plug in the battery and the power supply, start the laptop and check if the problem is gone

 

[mdrattitude]

1. shut down the laptop
2. remove the power supply and the battery
3. press and hold the power button 2-3 times and keep it pressed for 1-2 seconds --- obviously the laptop will not start!
4. plug in the battery and the power supply, start the laptop and check if the problem is gone

Hello Cyanna,

I already saw that solution on internet, the problem is that i can't remove the battery from the laptop like this...

Clément

 

[Ztruker]

You can unplug the power pack and remove the main battery, but not the CMOS battery then press and hold the power button as Cyanna described above. That is what the tips say to do and for some strange reason it has fixed this problem in some cases.

Try it, nothing to lose.

 

[cyanna]

It is a bit of a hassle to remove the battery on that laptop but it can be done.
What exact model Dell do you have? There should be something more after the xps 15z

 

[Ztruker]

Yow, you're right, much more work than a normal laptop.

Good Youtube video here though: How-To-Tutorial: Dell XPS 15z (L511z) Battery Replacement - YouTube

Doesn't look hard, just takes a few minutes.

 

[Britton30]

Jeez, they could have just as easily made a removable cover over the battery.

 

[mdrattitude]

Unfortunately i can't do that as i replaced my hard drive disk 1 month ago and i destroyed one of the screw ...

There is no other solution to that ? Maybe empty the battery then try your process ?

What do you think ?

 

[Britton30]

Why can't you do it? Does the hard drive screw hold the battery in?

 

[cyanna]

unfortunately I know something of ruined screws: destroyed the X didn't you?
Emptying the battery will not work. Let me think for a while if I can come up with any other options......

 

[cyanna]

Try this: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Ease of Access Center\Make the mouse easier to use and check "Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse"

 

[mdrattitude]

Hello Cyanna,

I feel a bit ashame that it was that simple ...
One last thing, if i want to select a window which is not using the fullscreen size, it displays the window for a second and then the window just behing this one with a fullscreen size take the place.
EDIT : It happens only when i have a windows file explorer opened in fullscreen.

Nothing to do with and might be a problem because the laptop has several years now, but when i'm typing on the keyboard there are a lot of letter which are written several times. like if i want to write "Hello my name is Clement" usually i get something like: "Helloo, mmy namme is cclement" ... any idea ?

Thank you
Clément

 

[cyanna]

I feel a bit ashame that it was that simple ...

As long as you don't mind that windows become active as soon as you hover over them....

For the rest: working night today so very limited free time. To tide you over: try creating another user on the computer and log into that: do you still have the problems? By full screen you mean maximized, right? Oh and this existed before you enabled "Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse"?

 

[mdrattitude]

Cyanna,

I just tried to disable the option just to see what was happening and the window thing is now ok .
It's a success ! and i thank you very much for your help.

I just need to find out the problem with my keyboard now and all will be good.

Clément

 

[cyanna]

Yeah but how are your live previews with that option disabled?
About the keyboard: all the letters all the time, some of them some of the time? some of them all the time? How about is you try to type slowly and carefully? And unless it's a state secret what is the exact model of your Dell

 

[mdrattitude]

The live preview are back to normal.
I don't really understand the behavior, but i can see the preview by putting the mouse hover.

For the keyboard, my gf didn't tell me that she removed the last driver of it ..
I just reinstall the last update of the keyboard driver and it's all good.

So it's all good and i thank you a million Cyanna for your help !

 

[cyanna]

For the keyboard, my gf didn't tell me that she removed the last driver of it ..

:banghead::roflmao::roflmao:

 

[Britton30]

Good to hear you found the problem, however we can't help with installing a new GF.

 

[mdrattitude]

Good to hear you found the problem, however we can't help with installing a new GF.

There is always a solution :d

 

[daveprice74]

Same problem, new fix

Hi guys, I think I might have some helpful information on this old problem -- I recently started experiencing the same behavior (preview panes in Alt Tab and Taskbar disappearing much too quickly) after setting up Battery Optimization (lets the battery decline to 50% before recharging). Turned off Battery Optimization and the problem immediately stopped (no reboot, no restart of Explorer).

As a developer my guess it has to do with the battery optimizer checking the battery level every few seconds (which due to some bad coding somewhere flips off the previews). I noticed some other people had battery-related fixes, hope this helps. If nothing else you might try fiddling with the battery settings or even removing the battery and running on AC.

This was on a Lenovo T440.

Adding this solution here since a lot of people will probably find it through Google like I did.