Windows Vista creates thumbnails of not only pictures and video files but almost all types of files when you open a folder. This may become irritating if you open a folder with thousands of pictures or videos. If you do not like Windows to start generating thumbnails each time you open a folder, here is how you can disable this :
- Open any folder on your hard disk and Press Alt key once. You would see a menubar appear in that folder.
- From the menubar, click on Tools → Folder Options as shown :
- This would open Folder Options window. In this click on View tab to select it.
- Check the checkbox labeled Always show icons, never thumbnails.
- Click on button labeled Apply followed by button labeled Apply to Folders as shown in the picture above.
- Click OK button to close the Folder Options window.
Windows Vista will no longer generate preview thumbnails for any kind of files. This should make opening folders faster and reduce load on your computer’s CPU. If in future, you decide to enable this option, you can always trace back your steps.