As its name implies, the software lets you tweak the thumbnail previews displayed when hovering over a taskbar icon. After downloading the program, simply extract and run it, no installation is required. You should see a window with a number of adjustable sliders for the thumbnail size, spacing, margins, and delay time. Don’t be intimidated though, because you can get by with only using one or two of the bars to adjust the thumbnail’s dimensions. It’s worth mentioning that you can safely play around with them, as the “Restore Defaults” button instantly returns all settings to their original state. If you just want to increase the size of your thumbnail quickly, you can use the first pair of sliders under “Thumbnail Size” and essentially ignore the rest of the application. The only other option that may be of larger interest is “Delay Time,” which adjusts the amount of time you have to mouse-over an icon before the preview appears. If you insist on exploring all the options, “Spacing” lets you set the amount of space between the thumbnail and the backdrop, while “Margin” refers to backdrop itself, which can also be resized. As noted, if you simply increase the thumbnail size, the rest of the options will scale appropriately, so you don’t have to pull your hair out getting all the numbers just right. As always, we love hearing about your little-known utilities and tweaks, so share them at will in the article’s comments. Did you know? The Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Customizer was developed by Kishan Bagaria, the same individual who created the Windows 7 Start Button Changer detailed in a tech tip last month. The significance of this mention is that Kishan is only 12 years old – or young, we should say. You can catch up with him over at Kishan.info, where he has a small cache of Windows-related tricks and some more.
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