Disable web browser tab previews in Windows 7
Jun 24, 2010 Technology, Work
Recently I upgraded my work machine from Windows Vista to Windows 7. While learning the new features of 7 I found that Aero likes to show tab previews of each tab I have open in Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera. I am the kind of guy that keeps multiple tabs open almost all day long looking up items, coding, … the list could go on so I found this “feature” a pain. As you can see in the below image that I have multiple websites open but you cannot tell if it is multiple windows or multiple tabs.
Now with the picture below you can easily see I have only one window open but four tabs.
To disable tab previews in Firefox you need to do the following:
- Open the about:config page in a new tab or window
- Filter for: browser.taskbar.previews.enable
- By default this is set to true so double click on the true to swap the value to false
- Your done!
Now for Internet Explorer you have to open the the Internet Options. You will do this by opening Internet Explorer and in the toolbar look for the Tools icon which looks like a gear and then select Internet Options at the very bottom.
Once in the Internet Options click on the Settings button in the Tabs section.
Once in the Tabbed Browsing Settings un-check the option that says: Show previews for individual tabs in the taskbar*, then click OK on all the open windows and close out of Internet Explorer.
Now for Opera we have to open the opera:config page in a new tab or window.
Scroll down to a section titled User Prefs and expand this section.
Scroll down towards the bottom of the User Prefs section and un-check the check box: “Use Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnails”
Once you have unchecked this box scroll down to the bottom of the User Prefs section and click the save button. You will eventually be presented with the following dialog box once complete.
That is how you disable tab previews in Windows 7 for popular browsers.
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Tags: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Web Browser, Windows 7
