Comments on: Get Vista Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in Windows XP

By: Erik

Erik — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:38:26 +0000

@Jon: I believe what you are describing is called “Active Content”. If you go to the Display tab there is a checkbox for “Active thumbnails on mouse over”. I haven’t tried it but I expect checking that would fix your problem.

And for people who are saying it doesn’t work for them — the window you’re getting a preview of has to be open (NOT minimized). If it’s minimized it won’t work (nor will Vista’s).

@mahir or @The Geek: This works great, except when I have taskbar buttons grouped (right click on the taskbar -> Properties -> Taskbar tab -> “Group similar taskbar buttons”). I love this feature because I keep a lot of windows open. On Vista the preview thumbnails work even in this mode — if you click on the group and then mouse over each item in the list, each thumbnail will be displayed. This doesn’t work with your tool. Any suggestions or future feature releases?

By: Ruri

Ruri — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:01:30 +0000

I’ve got Visual Task Tips. thanks

By: user

user — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:07:53 +0000

“Tonia.

I have vista..
and on taskbar and start menu.
i dont have the option to let the thumbnails show..
why is this?”
i want it on sooo bad. ”

thats the issue with “HOME” Versions, basic or premium…sorry

upgrade to business,ultimate…anything BUT home versions, and you can use the THEME ( Aero) with advanced options, and now the “show preview thumbnails in taskbar” isnt grayed out. by default its selected, though have seen SOME OEM, like some HP or DELL have it off by default.

but upgrade to anything but basic, and have the feature.

if you search the web, u can download Windows 7 Beta, it expires Aug 2009- that will have the feature, but mkae sure you choose UPDATE, so when it expires, you can downgrade, or UNDO the upgrade.

By: gina

gina — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 04:10:23 +0000

jd2066..Thank you, i got my taskbar stuck on the left side too, and tried everything except just clicking and dragging down..doh! LoL..Thank you so much, now i can go watch t.v. you Rock!!!
cheers from gina ♥

By: ice cream

ice cream — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:40:14 +0000

I’ve got Visual Task Tips, and the DreamScene patch, and my computer is SO slow! How do I fix this? Thanks.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:29:42 +0000

I have to say that this is quite the cool little add-on that you could put on your computer. I’m in a computer school, and most of my friends have Vista, but I have XP, and I don’t want to switch, but I like this feature. Although, one of the things I am having a problem with, is when I have videos or programs that constantly move and update, like a video game, for another example, it only shows me a little black box, and then most times it will open up the program itself, while another program is open, and then messed up the initial program open. All I want to do is see the video / video game in the little box it pops up. Is there anything I can do to make it do this? If anyone has any tips that would be great, and much appreciated.

By: jd2066

jd2066 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:57:13 +0000

@anne: Just click and drag the taskbar to the bottom of the screen.
If that doesn’t work then you need to right click on it and uncheck “Lock the taskbar” first.

By: anne

anne — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:00:50 +0000

My tasbar on windows XP is now vertical on the right hand edge of my desktop, how do I bring it to horizontal on the bottom of the screen?

By: psy

psy — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:25:39 +0000

it seems it doesn’t work in xp x64

By: matthew frombirmingham

matthew frombirmingham — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:44:42 +0000

the screen wont appear as you need to have the window open for the preview