Turning Off Aero

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 2, 2015)

1

The Aero interface features in Windows 7 are nice to look at, but they can have an affect on your system performance—particularly if you are low on available memory. If you don't like the "eye candy" that Aero implements, you can turn it off if you want. Simply follow these steps:

  1. Click the Start button, right-click on Computer, then choose Properties. Windows displays the System portion of the Control Panel.
  2. At the left side of the screen, click Performance Information and Tools.
  3. Click Adjust Visual Effects. Windows displays the Visual Effects tab of the Performance Options dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Visual Effects tab of the Performance Options dialog box.

Note that the dialog box includes a long list of visual effects you can turn on or off. While you can take the time to do this, if you want, the easiest way is to simply click the Adjust for Best Performance radio button at the top of the dialog box. This turns off most of the visual effects and, thereby, most of the Aero features. The result is that your system runs faster.

When you are done making adjustments, click the OK button to dismiss the dialog box. You can also close any other dialog boxes open on your system.

 This tip (12563) applies to Windows 7.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Comments in Text Boxes

If you use text boxes in your documents, you may sometime want to place a comment in the text box, the same as you can do ...

Discover More

Full-Width Headers and Footers in Excel

Excel allows you to create headers and footers. In this tip you discover that the headers and footers in Excel may not be ...

Discover More

Finding the Latest Value in a Range

If you need to evaluate the values in a large cell range and return a date associated with where a value occurs, it can ...

Discover More
More WindowsTips

Adjusting How Quickly Your Keyboard Responds

Does your keyboard seem a bit sluggish or a bit too quick when you hold down keys? You can adjust how the keyboard ...

Discover More

Controlling the Taskbar on Multiple Monitors

On Windows computers the Taskbar, by default, runs along the bottom of the screen. Learn how to control how the Taskbar ...

Discover More

Changing How the Power Button Behaves

When you shut down your system, you normally use the Power button that is visible after you click the Start button. You ...

Discover More
Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 + 1?

2015-11-02 06:13:15

Jim Brizendine

I have a few large spread sheets with complex Macros. Can this be done from VBA? Kind of like turning off screen updating?

Newest Tips
Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.