Graphics optimization
Customizing Windows Aero Visual Effects
Improve desktop performance by disabling some subtle visual effects in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1
We answer the question: What to do if the Windows interface is slow?
The modern interface of Windows 7 and Windows 8 has quite serious hardware requirements to ensure smooth operation and maximum performance. If the Windows interface is noticeably sluggish on your laptop or desktop computer, we recommend disabling some subtle visual graphic effects. In most cases, these settings significantly and very noticeably improve the speed of the interface and the system as a whole.
Why does the Windows interface slow down?
Remember to update regularly to maintain system performance at a high level. Especially often, owners of inexpensive laptops, ultrabooks, tablets with Windows 8, nettops and rapidly losing their popularity and obsolete netbooks encounter problems with the interface. In short, low interface performance is most often characteristic of compact and inexpensive computers.
The video system of low-cost mobile computers, as a rule, is not capable of smoothly processing complex graphic elements of Windows 7 and Windows 8 in all situations. When creating inexpensive and compact devices, engineers are forced to balance between maximum energy efficiency and minimum cost of future low-cost computers. As a result, all this inevitably affects the final performance - the Windows interface, rich in graphic effects, can quite noticeably and noticeably “slow down” even when performing the simplest actions.
How can you increase the performance of the Windows desktop and interface without resorting to completely disabling all Aero/Modern UI graphic elements and without switching to the ascetic classic design scheme? Even now, after the release of an optimized and significantly less resource-intensive system Windows 8.1, this question does not lose its relevance.
If you own a computer or laptop on which Windows is slow, this is not a reason to completely disable the improved Aero/Modern UI design or spend money on a new computer.
In order for Windows to run smoothly and smoothly on your computer, we recommend fine-tuning the visual effects, which will result in a significant acceleration of the operating system interface.
Optimizing effects in Windows 7 and Vista
The Starter and Home Basic versions of Windows 7 use a lightweight Aero interface, which, however, also includes many unnecessary graphical effects (hardly noticeable on small netbook screens) that reduce system performance. Disabling all unnecessary Windows visual effects and leaving only the essentials, you will significantly relieve the computing power of your computer and video card, with virtually no change in the appearance of the Aero interface.
All Windows 7 GUI settings are collected in the Windows Visual Effects Manager. The easiest way to find it in the wilds of the system is to enter the obvious phrase “ Visual effects» in the search bar of the Start menu.
The first element in the search results will be the link “”, clicking on which you will see the following window:
If you are unable to open Visual Effects Controls using search, go to Start > Control Panel > Change the view mode from Category to Small Icons 
Go to System > Advanced System Settings and open the Performance settings. For more convenient settings, set the selector to “ Ensure maximum performance", thereby removing checkboxes from all interface parameters. After that, check the following points:
Enable desktop composition
Using Window and Button Display Styles
Show thumbnails instead of icons
Smooth out jagged screen fonts.
Click "Apply" to activate the settings and restart your computer. To cancel changes, select Restore Defaults.
If the “transparent” Aero interface disappears in the system, after saving the changes, right-click on the desktop Windows 7 or Vista, select item "Personalization", then "Window color and appearance", check the box next to “Enable transparency” and click “OK” (in the “Start” and “Basic” versions, the “Personalization” section and the transparent interface are not available).
If your computer still continues to slow down, the problem may not only be with slow graphics, but also with poor performance of other components. Follow our detailed guidelines to ensure maximum performance.
Optimizing visual effects in Windows 8.1
Let's turn off all the unnecessary ones Windows 8.1 visual effects, and we will leave only the most necessary. In this way, we will relieve the computing power of the computer and video card, without losing much of the graphical beauty of the Windows 8 Modern UI interface.
Open the search bar with the keyboard shortcut + (hold down the Win key, then press Q) "
In the search bar, enter Tuning presentation and system performance. Select the item of the same name in the search results.
Windows Aero desktop theme is very popular. It is used not only in Windows 7, but also in Windows 8. However, owners of weak PCs and laptops, when installing this theme, often notice a decrease in the performance of not only the desktop, but also the system as a whole. This problem is associated with a lack of video card performance. Moreover, this disadvantage lies precisely in the minimal cost of the device. Manufacturers of budget PCs and laptops focus on the energy efficiency of the product rather than its power. However, this doesn't mean you can't use Windows Aero on a budget PC. It's all possible to improve your PC's performance with the Windows Aero theme.
Why does my PC glitch when using the Windows Aero theme?
The Windows Aero theme comes with over 200 visual effects that create a rich graphical experience. To reproduce all these effects, a good video card must be installed on your PC. Otherwise, the interface performance will be poor.
To check which visual effects are used in Windows 7, you should follow a few simple steps:
- Click “Start”, “Control Panel”, “System and Security”. Set the viewing mode to “Categories” and select the “System” section. In the left menu, select “Advanced options”.
- A new window will open. In the “Performance” section, click on the “Options” button.
- In the “Visual Effects” tab we look at the entire list of effects that reduce desktop performance in Windows
To improve the performance of the interface of the Windows 7 and 8 operating system with this theme, you should perform a few simple steps.
How to improve desktop performance with the Windows Aero theme?
In the “Visual Effects” tab, if you check the “Provide the best look” checkbox, the most comprehensive list of Windows Aero visual effects will open. It is this parameter that causes a decrease in performance.
If you change the checkbox to “Ensure the best performance”, then the theme along with the visual effects will be automatically disabled. The markings from the visual effects will disappear.
To keep the Windows Aero theme and improve the performance of the working interface, you should abandon heavy graphic effects and check the “Special Effects” checkbox. In this case, you need to uncheck all elements except:
- Enable desktop composition;
- Enable transparency effect;
- Using display styles for windows and buttons;
- Smooth out irregularities in screen fonts;
- Save the taskbar thumbnail view.
Next, click “Apply” and “OK”. We also recommend restarting your PC. System performance will increase by 20-30%. If you want to get a greater effect, then you should remove unused shortcuts from the desktop, delete unnecessary files, and move folders to your hard drive. Only after performing various manipulations will the productivity of the desktop increase significantly.
For useful tips on how to improve system performance with Windows Aero, watch the video:
Windows Aero is a set of special visual effects for displaying desktop content. The most famous and understandable of them is the transparency of Explorer windows. Such improvements require the computer hardware to provide additional system resources, which on weaker machines can lead to slowdowns in animation, tooltips, and other Aero effects. In this article we will talk about how to solve this problem.
Displaying the graphical interface of the operating system using Aero means increasing the load on those computer components that are responsible for graphics. This is the central processor and video card. If their power is not enough, then delays in work are inevitable. "Conductor" and other applications that use transparency and animation.
If in the section "Assessing and increasing computer performance" in the column "Desktop Performance for Windows Aero" If the value is from 1 to 4, this means that you either do not need to use these effects, or you should artificially increase the computer’s performance by installing a more powerful video card.
The processor in this situation is not so important, since the minimum system requirements are set at 1 GHz. However, a weak CPU may be overloaded with background processes, and Aero may not have enough resources.
If it is not possible to change the hardware, then you can try to reduce the load on the system by completely or partially abandoning the Aero functionality. Other factors can also affect system performance, which we will discuss later.
Disabling visual effects
In a situation where the hardware is not so bad, disabling window transparency can help. You can do this in the settings section "Personalization".
If the “brakes” remain, then you need to turn off other visual effects. This will allow you to re-enable transparency while preserving the appearance of the windows.
- Right-click on the shortcut "Computer" on the desktop, and then by item "Properties".
- Next, move on to additional system parameters.
- Here on the block "Performance", press the button "Options".
- Uncheck all effects. The easiest way to do this is to put the switch in position "Provide the best performance". The jackdaws will disappear. There is no need to press anything else yet.
- Now check the boxes next to the following items:
- "Enable Desktop Composition";
- "Enable transparency effect";
- "Using Display Styles for Windows and Buttons";
- "Smooth out jagged screen fonts";
The last point is not necessary, but this way the texts and inscriptions will look as usual, that is, much nicer than without anti-aliasing. This parameter has virtually no effect on performance. Other positions are needed, as we said above, to maximally preserve the familiar appearance of the graphical shell.
- After completing the settings, click "Apply".
Removing “brakes” using other methods
If, after disabling visual effects, the performance of the desktop still leaves much to be desired, then there may be other factors influencing this. This, in addition to weak hardware, can be a large amount of “garbage” or high fragmentation of files on the system hard drive, “unnecessary” applications, as well as viruses.
To eliminate these factors, you must perform the following actions:
