[FEATURE] Instant Auto Hide Taskbar Animation

[echoless3484]

Please confirm these before moving forward

• I have searched for similar feature requests and have not found a duplicate.

Feature Type

New functionality

Describe your feature request

I am requesting the implementation of a toggle or slider that controls the TaskbarAnimations and the MouseHoverTime delay.

Specifically, the feature should allow users to:
Disable the slide-in/slide-out animation entirely for the taskbar when "Automatically hide the taskbar" is enabld.
Adjust the hover delay, allowing the taskbar to trigger the moment the cursor hits the screen edge rather than waiting for the default 400ms polling period.

Use case

Windows 10 and 11 prioritize animation over speed. When the taskbar is set to auto-hide, there is a hardcoded animation that takes roughly 200–400ms, and a hover-recognition delay. For people who frequently switch apps, this creates a feeling that the OS feels extremely unresponsive or slow.

Software Details (Only for 'New software to be added' requests)

No response

Additional context

Path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Setting: UserPreferencesMask

Path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse
Value Name: MouseHoverTime

Path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Value Name: ExtendedUIHoverTime

[memstechtips]

Hey! Thanks for suggesting this — great idea for making the auto-hide taskbar feel snappier! 🎉

This has been implemented, but rather than a single toggle, achieving the "instant auto-hide taskbar" effect requires a combination of three settings since they each control a different part of the experience:

1. Animations in the taskbar — Found in Optimize > Gaming and Performance > Visual Effects. This disables the slide-in/slide-out animation when the taskbar auto-hides or appears.

2. Mouse Hover Time — Found in Optimize > Gaming and Performance (in the main/ungrouped section near "Enhance Pointer Precision"). This controls how long you have to hover over any element system-wide before it activates. Lowering it from the default 400ms makes tooltips, menus, and hover effects respond faster.

3. Taskbar Auto-Hide Hover Delay — Found in Customize > Taskbar > Taskbar Behavior. This specifically controls how long you need to hover at the screen edge before the auto-hidden taskbar appears.

By combining all three (disable the animation + lower both hover delays), you get a near-instant taskbar experience when using auto-hide.

This fix is in the development branch and will be available for testing in Release 24!