- Tooltips provide info and context, but can become annoying or obstructive.
- You can disable Explorer tooltips in Windows Explorer.
- Alternatively, you can edit the Registry to delay or disable pop-ups.
Not everything about Windows 11 works for its users. The example we’re looking at today involves those small text boxes that pop up whenever your mouse hovers over an icon or shortcut, called tooltips.
They are a very useful source of information and provide much-needed context to some users, but for those who know the score, they just end up being annoying. If you’re one of these irritated users, then the good news is that disabling tooltips is not only possible but very easy. This article will show you how.
Disable Tooltips in Windows 11
Tooltips are an effective way to offer information while you work. That said, they can just as easily pop up when the cursor is just hovering over a word and get in the way of the UI. Here’s how to stop them from appearing:
Disable Explorer Tooltips
This method won’t disable all popups, but will take care of tooltips that appear in Windows Explorer. It’s quite simple to do:
Step 1. Open up an Explorer window (Win + E) and click the menu (three dots) in the top menu bar.
Step 2. Choose “Options” from the menu.
Step 3. In the “Folder Options” menu that pops up, scroll down and uncheck “Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items.”
Step 4. Click “Apply” and “OK” once done, and restart your machine.
Edit the Registry
The Registry is where all important system settings are kept. Changing anything here can drastically affect the performance of your system if you don’t know what you’re doing. That said, we’re here to make it easy for you. Just remember to back up your registry before making any changes.
This solution doesn’t disable the tooltips, but instead delays their pop-up for a specified length of time. The length of that period is up to you. Here’s how to delay tooltips via the Registry:
Step 1. Type “Registry Editor” into the search bar and click the icon that pops up.
Step 2. Once in the Registry Editor window, click “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” from the sidebar.
Step 3. Open the “Control Panel” subfolder below this and then click the “Mouse” subfolder inside that.
Step 4. In the main window, locate “MouseHoverTime” and double-click it.
Step 5. Change the value number to an extended period from the default value of “10.” Press “OK” once done.
Step 6. Restart your machine for the changes to take effect.
The tooltips will still pop up, but only after an extended hover. This way, you can ensure that you call up the tooltips only when you really need them, and eliminate the hasty popups that can quickly become irritating.
If you’re looking to remove tooltips completely, along with some other UI popups, you can do this by editing the “ShowInfoTip” value in the Registry. Here’s how:
Step 1. Type “Registry Editor” into the search bar and click the icon that pops up.
Step 2. Once in the Registry Editor window, click “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” from the sidebar.
Step 3. Navigate to the following path: “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced”
Step 4. Double-click the “ShowInfoTip” value and change the “Value” to “0.”
Step 5. Press “OK” once done and restart your machine.
