Top Tip

Before doing any registry changes, we thoroughly recommend creating a restore point just in case anything goes wrong (Click Here to see how)

Making Menus Appear Faster

This registry tweak must be the most popular customisation tips ever printed! However, for completeness we will list it here just in case you've never seen it before

The default delay for menus etc to appear once they have been clicked on is 0.4 seconds. While this doesn't seem very long, when you're waiting for something you've clicked on to appear it's an absolute age!

A simple registry tweak can lessen the time it takes for menus to appear

  • Click the Start button, and select Run from the menu.
  • Type in regedit in to the dialog box and hit Enter.
  • Navigate to the registry key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Desktop\MenuShowDelay
  • This is set to 400 by default (400 milliseconds = 0.4 seconds) drop the value to anything between 100-200 to speed things up a little.


This page last updated November 24th 2009 Bookmark and Share