Haha, I run into this all the time. I’ve probably made a million folders nAMED lIKE tHIS on our network. I definitely think there should be a button! (or option at least)
One thing you can do is hit ~ over the render queue and thus minimize the preview.
It’s funny because when you watch folder render AE does actually do what you say – it doesn’t render the preview. So it shouldn’t be hard for the AE guys to make that an option in the preferences: “Disable viewer on render” or something like that.
– Spencer