[Windows 10 Tip] Registry Tweaks to Customize UI of Alt+Tab, Task View and Snap Assistant Screens

- Last updated on January 30, 2017 by VG

In Windows 10 operating system, there are 3 main components present to use Multi Tasking View:

Alt+Tab View

Task View (also known as Virtual or Multiple Desktops)

Snap Assist View

Alt+Tab view is used to see and switch between running programs. You can access this view by pressing ALT and TAB keys together on your keyboard.

Task View is used to create multiple virtual desktops and each virtual desktop contains its own running programs list. You can access Task View by pressing WIN+Tab keys together or by clicking on Task View icon on Taskbar.

Snap Assist view helps you in arranging running programs windows on screen by automatically showing a list of all running programs when you try to use Aero Snap feature. Just drag-n-drop a program window to left-middle corner of your screen and Snap Assist will launch automatically to help you in using Aero Snap feature.

By default Windows 10 doesn't allow to customize UI (User Interface) or look-n-feel of these multi tasking views but today in this tutorial, we are going to share lots of Registry tweaks which will help you in customizing all these views UI. You'll be able to change thumbnails size, grid margins, icons size, hover color, background window appearance, background transparency level and much more in these views.

If you also want to customize UI of Alt+Tab, Task View and Snap Assist screens, check out following simple steps:

STEP 1:

Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type regedit in RUN box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

STEP 2:

Now go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

STEP 3:

Now you'll need to create new key under Explorer key. Right-click on Explorer key and select New -> Key option. It'll create a new key under Explorer key, set the name of new key as MultitaskingView

STEP 4:

Now select the new MultitaskingView key and again you'll need to create new keys under this key. Right-click on MultitaskingView key and select New -> Key option and set the new key name as following:

If you want to customize UI of Alt+Tab screen, set the new key name as AltTabViewHost

screen, set the new key name as If you want to customize UI of Task View screen, set the new key name as AllUpView

screen, set the new key name as If you want to customize UI of Snap Assist screen, set the new key name as SnapAssistView

So basically you'll need to create 3 new keys under MultitaskingView key, if you want to customize UI of all 3 views i.e. Alt+Tab, Task View and Snap Assist.

STEP 5:

Now you'll need to create new DWORDs in right-side panes to customize look of these views. The DWORD names and values will remain same for all 3 views. So if you want to customize UI of Alt+Tab screen, create the DWORDs in right-side pane of AltTabViewHost key, if you want to customize UI of Task View screen, create the DWORDs in right-side pane of AllUpView key and if you want to customize UI of Snap Assist screen, create the DWORDs in right-side pane of SnapAssistView key.

Following is the exclusive list of all known DWORDs which can be created to customize UI of these multitasking views:

A big thanks goes to our reader "Anat" for sharing this ultimate list...

BackgroundDimmingLayer_percent

Desktop_background_color

Desktop_background_margin_bottommargin

Desktop_background_margin_leftmargin

Desktop_background_margin_rightmargin

Desktop_background_margin_topmargin

Desktop_click_scale

Desktop_closebutton_height

Desktop_closebutton_width

Desktop_height

Desktop_item_spacing

Desktop_layout_margin_bottommargin

Desktop_layout_margin_leftmargin

Desktop_layout_margin_rightmargin

Desktop_layout_margin_topmargin

Desktop_rest_overlay_alpha

DimmingLayer_bottommargin

DimmingLayer_leftmargin

DimmingLayer_rightmargin

DimmingLayer_topmargin

Grid_adjacentspacing

Grid_backgroundPercent

Grid_bottommargin

Grid_desktop_margin

Grid_leftmargin

Grid_rightmargin

Grid_rowspacing

Grid_topmargin

New_button_focus_margins_bottommargin

New_button_focus_margins_leftmargin

New_button_focus_margins_rightmargin

New_button_focus_margins_topmargin

New_button_glyph_color

New_button_glyph_size

New_button_plate

New_button_plate_hover

ScrollButtonContainer_bottommargin

ScrollButtonContainer_button_height

ScrollButtonContainer_button_width

ScrollButtonContainer_buttonspacing

ScrollButtonContainer_leftmargin

ScrollButtonContainer_rightmargin

ScrollButtonContainer_topmargin

Thumbnail_closebutton_height

Thumbnail_closebutton_width

Thumbnail_focus_border_color

Thumbnail_focus_border_width

Thumbnail_focus_percent

Thumbnail_hover_bottommargin

Thumbnail_hover_color

Thumbnail_hover_leftmargin

Thumbnail_hover_percent

Thumbnail_hover_rightmargin

Thumbnail_hover_topmargin

Thumbnail_icon_bottommargin

Thumbnail_icon_leftmargin

Thumbnail_icon_plate

Thumbnail_icon_rightmargin

Thumbnail_icon_size

Thumbnail_icon_topmargin

Thumbnail_label_bottommargin

Thumbnail_label_leftmargin

Thumbnail_label_rightmargin

Thumbnail_label_topmargin

Thumbnail_max_aspectratio

Thumbnail_max_height_percent

Thumbnail_min_height_percent

Thumbnail_min_width

Thumbnail_mousedown_shrinkpercent

Wallpaper

You can create above mentioned DWORDs in right-side pane of appropriate keys and set their values according to your requirements.

For example, "BackgroundDimmingLayer_percent" DWORD can be used to change transparency level of the background wallpaper in these views. Set its value to 10 or 20 and you'll get nice dimming effect for the background.

"Grid_leftmargin" DWORD and other similar margin DWORDs can be used to change margins of thumbnails shown in the grid. You can change thumbnails distance from left, right, bottom or top using these DWORDs.

"Grid_adjacentspacing" DWORD can be used to change spacing between thumbnails.

"Grid_backgroundPercent" DOWRD can be used to customize transparency level of the main grid containing thumbnails. You can set its value to 25 or 30 to get more transparency effect.

"Thumbnail_focus_border_color" DWORD can be used to change hover color when you hover mouse cursor over thumbnails. Just set its value to your desired color's hex code. For example set its value to 000000 to change hover color from White to Black.

"Thumbnail_icon_size" DWORD can be used to change icon size shown on thumbnails.

"Wallpaper" DOWRD is a special one. It can be used to decide whether the background windows and icons should be displayed or not. If you set its value to 1, no program windows will be displayed, only the default desktop wallpaper will be displayed. If you set its value to 0, background program windows and icons will be displayed.

So you can see, every DWORD does a different task and you can get a general idea of what a particular DWORD does, from its name. So just create the DWORD, set its value to your desired number and check its effect immediately in these multitasking view screens.

NOTE: The effects of these DWORDs are instant, so you don't need to restart or log off computer to take effects. Just set DWORD values and check their effects in the views.

Also Check:

[Tip] Get Windows XP Style Classic "Alt+Tab" Switcher Screen in Windows Vista and Later

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Published in: Windows 10

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About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on TV channels. (Connect with Us)