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The little details can make or break a user experience. Some users notice a lag, while others have a hard time with basic navigation. The default system settings are meant to be a sensible starting-off point. The more you become accustomed to the system, the more you'll notice what works best for you. Luckily you can tweak a lot of the user interface elements. This excerpt from David A. Karp's Windows 7 Annoyances shows you how to tweak your menus to give your Windows 7 PC a little pep.
Ever noticed the half-second or so delay between the instant you move the mouse over a menu item and the moment the menu is opened? By default, Windows waits 400 milliseconds (just under a half-second) before opening menus, but if you eliminate the delay, menus will open instantaneously, and your PC will feel a little more alert.
Expand the branches to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.Double-click the
MenuShowDelayvalue. If it’s not there, go to Edit→New→String Value, and typeMenuShowDelayfor the name of the new value.The numeric value you enter here is the number of milliseconds (thousandths of a second) Windows will wait before opening a menu. Enter
0(zero) here to eliminate the delay completely.Note
If you ever have trouble holding your mouse perfectly still, you’ve probably found it frustrating to navigate menus—particularly those in the Start menu—in Windows 7. Try typing a very large value (
65534is the maximum) here to stop menus from automatically opening altogether, which should make them easier to use.Click OK and close the Registry Editor when you’re finished. Log off and then log back in or restart Windows for this change to take effect.
Note that another way to navigate touchy menus is to use the keyboard. In any application, press the Alt key by itself to jump to the menu bar—or press Ctrl-Esc or the Windows logo key to open the Start menu—and then use the arrow keys to navigate. (Or skip navigation altogether and type the first few letters of a program to launch it.)
To make menus open even more quickly, turn off the Fade or slide menus into view and Fade out menu items after clicking options.
Learn more about this topic from Windows 7 Annoyances.
Windows 7 may be faster and more stable than Windows Vista, but that's a far cry from problem-free. With Windows 7 Annoyances, you'll learn how to deal with a wide range of nagging problems before they deal with you. Annoyances.org founder David Karp offers you the tools to fix all sorts of Windows 7 issues, along with solutions, hacks, and timesaving tips to make the most of your PC.
