How do I turn off thumbnails in Windows 7?

How do I turn off thumbnails in Windows 7?

I'm running Windows 7 RTM and while I do like Windows 7 I find that some of the "pretty" reduces usability. Specifically, I find the thumbnails in the Alt + Tab task switch UI and the thumbnail previews accessed from the taskbar to be completely useless. They would have to be several times larger to be useful and even then the usability would be less than in Windows XP. I cannot overstate my preference for the "application icon + window title" model that Windows 7 displays when I access it via Remote Desktop. I know the kids think this stuff is "cool", but I've got work to do :-)

Asked by: Guest | Views: 466

Total answers/comments: 1

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bert [Entry]

"UPDATE:

I was looking for this again and found that I could turnoff the thumbnails for the task bar in Group Policy.

Click the Start button, type ""gpedit.msc"" and press enter.
Navigate to User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Start Menu and Taskbar.
Right-Click on ""Turn off taskbar thumbnails in the list to the right and choose ""Edit"".
Click ""Enable"", then ""OK"".

I believe you will have to log off and log back on before this will take effect.

ORIGINAL ANSWER:
Looking at this with a friend who has been using the Windows RC for some time I figured out that disable ""Desktop Composition"" was what I was looking for. Hallelujah and thank you God!

For those of you that are not Super Users:
1. Click Start.
2. Right-click Computer and select properties.
3. Click ""Advanced System Properties"".
4. Under performance, click ""Settings..."".
5. Uncheck ""Enable desktop composition"".
6. Click ""OK"".
7. Click ""OK""."