Is there any way to customize the Windows 7 taskbar auto-hide behavior? Delay activation? Timer?

Posted by calbar on Super User See other posts from Super User or by calbar
Published on 2010-03-30T15:52:32Z Indexed on 2012/11/08 11:08 UTC
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I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with the way Windows 7 handles showing a hidden taskbar. It's incredibly over-eager to pop out and obscure what I'm really trying to interact with, requiring me to move the mouse away, wait for it to auto-hide again, then resume what I was doing but more deliberately.

After closely examining the behavior, it appears that a hidden taskbar "peeks out" from the edge by 2 or 3 pixels, and slowly moving your mouse into this area activates it; you don't even need to touch the edge of the screen.

I would love it if there was a way to customize or change this behavior. Ideally, the taskbar would only pop out if you are actively "pushing" the edge of the screen it is hidden on. So activation only occurs once you've reached the screens edge and continue to move the mouse past a customizable threshold.

Alternatively, a simple activation delay would suffice as well. So only if the mouse remains in that 2-3 pixel area (a.k.a. on the taskbar) for greater than a customizable amount of time does it pop out again. This would only be a fraction of a second. Often times the cursor simply "careens" off the edge of the screen while trying to focus on something nearby.

Anyway, if there are any registry settings or utilities that can achieve either of these effects, that would be great! Thanks for your help.

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