One of Windows 7’s much touted special effects, Aero, may be too much for some PCs to handle. Aero makes your windows’ frames translucent, letting bits and pieces of your desktop shine through them. The effects also let some programs, like Windows 7’s chess game, “float” in the air, allowing you to watch the game from all angles.
But the calculations required for those visual gymnastics slow down PCs that don’t have high-powered graphics — and that includes many of today’s tiny laptops called netbooks. Even worse, the fancy graphics may drain your batteries to a fraction of their battery life, and they can overheat your PC.
If you don’t like the extra burden Aero dumps on your PC, dump Aero by following these steps:
- 1. Right-click a blank part of your desktop and choose Personalize to summon the Control Panel.
- 2. In the Basic and High Contrast Themes area, choose Windows 7 Basic.
That theme lives near the Personalization window’s bottom. Your desktop’s appearance changes as soon you select the theme’s name.
If your computer is still too slow, try choosing Windows Classic in Step 2.
Not just in Windows 7, in any of the earlier version of Windows, If you want the Windows Classic desktop feel and functionality, you can change the desktop theme to the Windows Classic theme. Applies to Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP:
- Right-click an empty space on the desktop, and then click Properties.
- On the Themes tab, click Windows Classic in the Theme box.
- Click OK.
To turn Aero Glass back on for impressing your friends, follow the first step in the preceding list, but choose Windows 7 in the Aero Themes area. If Windows 7 still isn’t snappy enough, right-click Computer on the Start menu, choose Properties, and select Advanced System Settings from the task pane on the left. Click the Settings button in the Performance section, choose Adjust for Best Performance, and click OK.
Note: Simply choosing the 'Windows Classic Theme' with Windows XP will actually improve performance.