If you’re looking for a way to quickly see what’s going on in your computer, Aero Peek is a great option. It’s a small program that you can install on your desktop, and it will show you the contents of your screen in real time. You can use it to see what programs are running, how much data is being used, and more. If you’re not comfortable using Windows 10’s built-in tools, Aero Peek is a great option to try.
Aero Peek is one of the more useful features added as of Windows 7. Simply move your mouse to the far right side on the Taskbar (on the Show Desktop button) for half a second to hide all open windows and see your desktop. But what if half a second is too long?
RELATED: How to Disable Aero Peek in Windows
We’ll show you how to make Aero Peek display instantly instead. These procedures are the same in Windows 10 and 7, except where noted. The Show Desktop button is very narrow and hard to see in Windows 10, but if you just make sure to move your mouse to the extreme right side of the Taskbar, Aero Peek will work.
NOTE: This registry hack does not work in Windows 8.
How to Change the Aero Peek Delay with a Registry Hack
There’s a simple little registry hack that will change the amount of time between hovering your mouse over the Show Desktop button in the lower right-hand corner of the Taskbar, and the Aero Peek display showing up.
Standard warning: The Registry Editor is a powerful tool and misusing it can render your system unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple hack and as long as you stick to the instructions, you shouldn’t have any problems. That said, if you’ve never worked with it before, consider reading about how to use the Registry Editor before you get started. And definitely back up the Registry (and your computer!) before making changes.
RELATED: Learning to Use the Registry Editor Like a Pro
To get started, open the Registry Editor by hitting Start and typing regedit . Press Enter to open the Registry Editor and give it permission to make changes to your PC.
In the Registry Editor, use the left sidebar to navigate to the following key:
Click on the Advanced key and then double-click on the “DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime” value on the right.
First, make sure to select “Decimal” in the Base section before you make edits (unless you think in hex). The value is in milliseconds, so if you wanted 1 second, you would use 1000, or 500 for half a second, etc. To make the Aero Peek display instantly, just enter 0 (zero) in the “Value data” box (which works fine in hex too). The default value is 500, or half a second. Click the “OK” button to accept the change and close the dialog box.
Close the Registry Editor by going to File > Exit or by clicking the “X” button in the upper-right corner of the window.
Download Our One-Click Registry Hack to Make Aero Peek Instantaneous
If you don’t feel like diving into the Registry yourself, we’ve created downloadable registry hacks you can use. There are two files in included in the following zip file. Double-click the InstantAeroPeek.reg file and click through the prompts to set the DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime registry key to 0 (zero) so Aero Peek works instantly. To restore the default half-second time (500) for Aero Peek, double-click the RestoreDefaultAeroPeek.reg file and follow the prompts. Remember, once you’ve applied the instant Aero Peek hack or restored the default value, log out of your account and log back in or restart explorer.exe for the change to take effect.
Instant Aero Peek Hack
These hacks are really just the applicable key, set to the values we talked about in this article and then exported to a .REG file. If you enjoy fiddling with the Registry, it’s worth taking the time to learn how to make your own Registry hacks.
