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

Centering a Paragraph with the Keyboard

Need a quick shortcut that you can use to center your paragraph between the margins? The answer is here.

Discover More

Entering Many Items In a Drop-Down Form Field

One of the controls you can add to a Word form is a drop-down form field. This field is similar to drop-down lists used ...

Discover More

Finding Text Using a Specific Highlighting Color

If you use the highlighter tool extensively, you may want to search for text that is highlighted using a particular ...

Discover More
More WindowsTips

Turning on Night Light

When you work on your computer late at night the glow from your computer monitor can affect your sleep. Why not setup ...

Discover More

Listening with One Ear

If you use a single speaker to listen to your computer audio, you may be missing out on some sounds. Two quick changes to ...

Discover More

Turn Off/On Window Snap

Windows allows for a system window to "snap" to certain areas of your screen. You can easily turn this feature on or off.

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 2 + 6?

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.