Turning off tooltips in Windows XP pro

[gcol]

Has anyone had any success in doing this? Tooltips are the little text boxes that appear when you move your mouse pointer over something.
There are a few fixes on the web but nothing seems to work. I've managed to get rid of the tooltips for the minimise, maximise and close buttons and also in Office programs but the rest remain.

 

[2scoops0406]

Don't know a definite answer, have you tried this?

 

[gcol]

I'm sure I've tried that, but as I re-installed XP not too long ago I just tried it again to be sure - no dice.
Thanks anyway.

 

[2scoops0406]

Searching around seems to indicate that you are not the only one who would like to do this. As you may well have found out there does not seem to be an answer out there. It may well because this functionality is provided by the MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) this could probably mean that the behaviour is application specific, i.e. not all applications support the turn off tool tips feature. If this is the case then it would have to be a change to the MFC in order to globally turn it off everywhere, and even then this would require all applications to be running a version of the MSVC runtime that supported this. This is all a guess though. Sorry can't be of further help.

 

[Gary_M]

I don't have the answer at the moment, but it should be just a case of editing the appropriate 'registry' keys.

I suspect it will be values found in these entries :

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
Value Name: UserPreferencesMask
Data Type: REG_BINARY (Binary Value)

I haven't tried it and don't unfortunately have the time to do so at the moment, but perhaps this will give you a starting point to search further on the internet to find the solution.

I would suggest that you DO NOT tamper with anything in the registry unless you are sure what you are doing. If you do 'go there', make a note of any of the original values before you change them, so you can replace them should problems arise.

Good luck

 

[empip]

Look at No.11 here :-

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Tips and 'balloons' covered....... Do they work?
Dunno, I am on the Dino 98se.

KK suggests zeroing as shown below ....

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"EnableBalloonTips"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"FolderContentsInfoTip"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\tips]
"Show"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"StartButtonBalloonTip"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"ShowInfoTip"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoSMBalloonTip"=dword:00000000

More here .... could be the same tho'
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v33/vic33.htm

 

[empip]

 

[2scoops0406]

Look at No.11 here :-

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Tips and 'balloons' covered....... Do they work?
Dunno, I am on the Dino 98se.

KK suggests zeroing as shown below ....

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"EnableBalloonTips"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"FolderContentsInfoTip"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\tips]
"Show"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"StartButtonBalloonTip"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"ShowInfoTip"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoSMBalloonTip"=dword:00000000

More here .... could be the same tho'
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v33/vic33.htm

I don't see how this is going to affect app other than explorer tho' Why would changing these values affect excel for example ?

 

[empip]

Did you miss this Ed?

....I've managed to get rid of the tooltips for the minimise, maximise and close buttons and also in Office programs.....

I think toolbar tips are switchable from inside Excel, the setting is then used throughout M$ Office.

I wonder if Gcol meant the 'balloons' as opposed to the 'tips' ?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4. DISABLE FOLDER CONTENT INFO BUBBLES
Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Value Type: DWORD
Value Name: FolderContentsInfoTip
Value Data: 0

So this refers to File Explorer only or all file 'browsing' ?
Perhaps M$ dump several of the 'Tip and Balloon' OS values in the registry under 'explorer' ?

Opera Browser has options for 'ToolTips' on or off, irrespective of the OS setting. (never written to registry). I have also found 15 instances of 'ToolTip' values under HKU Default\ Software, for different packages, in my registry.

 

[2scoops0406]

Did you miss this Ed?

....I've managed to get rid of the tooltips for the minimise, maximise and close buttons and also in Office programs.....

I think toolbar tips are switchable from inside Excel, the setting is then used throughout M$ Office.

I wonder if Gcol meant the 'balloons' as opposed to the 'tips' ?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4. DISABLE FOLDER CONTENT INFO BUBBLES
Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Value Type: DWORD
Value Name: FolderContentsInfoTip
Value Data: 0

So this refers to File Explorer only or all file 'browsing' ?
Perhaps M$ dump several of the 'Tip and Balloon' OS values in the registry under 'explorer' ?

Opera Browser has options for 'ToolTips' on or off, irrespective of the OS setting. (never written to registry). I have also found 15 instances of 'ToolTip' values under HKU Default\ Software, for different packages, in my registry.

Yeah, 'twas an example, bad one as it turns out, 'cos you can turn this stuff off from the office app menus. Trouble is that this is doing it on an app by app basis, I don't think there is an all encompassing switch.

 

[gcol]

I wonder if Gcol meant the 'balloons' as opposed to the 'tips' ?

Nope, I meant the tooltips. The balloon tips get wiped as soon as I install windows.