How to Disable Thumbnail Previews in Windows 7/8.1 and 10

Thumbnails are small images on the files/folders that give the view of the content of the file. Thumbnails look good but sometimes they may be a cause of some serious issues.

Not to mention, the experience you have while using your computer will feel much quicker and efficient. When you open a folder, your operating system has to load all of those thumbnails. If you have a lot of files in the folder, this can slow everything down on your system while those thumbs get pulled up.

Another thing to consider is that thumbnails take up space on your computer. Admittedly, a thumbnail is a very small file, and shouldn’t take up too much, but again it is something that you don’t need and can get rid of to free up some storage space. For people who back up all of the files on their hard drive to a cloud, getting rid of thumbnails could actually save you some money.

Next, thumbnails show a preview of the file to whoever can see the screen. This could produce some embarrassing moments if someone else is using your computer or is standing nearby. Or, the thumbnail could compromise your privacy, giving someone access to information that they might not otherwise be privy to, and could use against. you in some way.

Guide to Disable Thumbnail Previews in Windows 7/8.1 and 10

By following these simple steps given below, you can disable thumbnails on any window.

Disabling Thumbnails

1. Open My computer and from the top tab of this window, choose view.
2. In the view menu, select options and then select the change folder options.
3. Then once again go to view tab.
4. Now make sure that the option ‘always show icons, never thumbnails’ options is enabled.

This will disable the thumbnails in your computer.

Muhammad Talha

Muhammad Talha is a long time contributor at Geekspie.com. Muhammad has years of experience writing about tech, including tutorials to resolve common problems users experience with Windows and Mac computers, iOS and and android devices, and software of all kinds. He can be reached through the contact us form.