Windows users are already familiar with their taskbar icons that flash whenever new activity is detected in applications, but few know more details about this truly customizable feature.
By default, whenever new activity is detected within an app, its icon flashes 7 times quickly and 3 times more slowly, and then the permanent orange background is activated to let you know that it needs your attention.
Although Microsoft doesn't offer options to customize these flashes, you can choose how many times you want the icon to flash orange using a very simple trick. The same trick works with Windows 7 and Windows 8 as well as the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709).
What you need to do is launch the Registry Editor in Windows 10 by simply typing regedit in the Start menu – administrator privileges are required to make changes, so users with standard accounts cannot modify the number of times their taskbar icons blink.
What is also very important to know is that we recommend that you create a backup of your registry settings before starting the procedures. Normally, you should not encounter any problems at all, but changing the value of some registry entries could affect the stability and performance of the system, while with a backup you can always return to the previous configuration if something goes wrong.
Once you run the Registry Editor, head to the following path (the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update comes with an address bar at the top of the application, so you can simply paste it to quickly get to the destination):
The Desktop registry section is home to the majority of Windows desktop settings, and what you're interested in is the ForegroundFlashCount entry.
Simply double-click on this particular item to edit it, then select the Decimal option before making any modifications. In the left box, type in how many times you want the taskbar icon to blink and click OK.
Close Registry Editor and restart to complete the changes, although you can also restart the explorer.exe application to see your modifications take effect.
