This feature has been present in many different versions of Windows and yet it is stays most overlooked feature in Windows. Windows 10 also has the Peek feature for having a quick preview of how the Windows desktop looks. This can be useful when you are want to have a quick glimpse of the desktop gadgets or folders. This is also very handy when you do not want to minimize all the open Windows to have a look at the Windows desktop. Peek can be used in two ways – through a hotkey (Win + Spacebar) or by moving your mouse cursor to the extreme right end of the taskbar.
The hotkey method is pretty easy – you can have a temporary preview of the desktop when you press the hotkey and when you release the hotkey, the preview disappears.
The taskbar method of Peek preview is not enabled in Windows 10 by default. So the first thing you have to is to enable the Peek preview. You can do so using these two steps:
- Right-click anywhere on the Windows taskbar and select Properties. This will open the “Taskbar and Start Menu properties” window.
- In the Taskbar and Start Menu properties window, switch to the Taskbar tab and place a checkmark in the checkbox labeled “Use Peek to preview the desktop when you move your mouse to the Show desktop button at the end of the taskbar”. Then click on the OK button to save the settings.
Compared to the earlier versions of Windows, the new Windows 10 has a very small “Show Desktop” button near the right end of the taskbar. So you have to move the mouse cursor a little bit more carefully over to the taskbar’s end to have the peek preview of the Windows desktop.