Tip Details Add a Related Tip

Rate as: Positive Negative

Turning Aero on and off in Vista

There are times when you want Aero turned off in Vista to improve system performance; times when speed matters and fancy visual effects don't. The problem with most tips on how to turn off Aero is that they turn it off for good. It is nice to have Aero on for everyday use as it does provide a nice look and feel on your Vista desktop.

If you want the best of both worlds, here's a tip that will allow you to turn Aero on and off at will so you can decide when you want performance and when you want fancy looking effects. A click of the mouse it all it takes to change.

Open the registry editor by running the regedit program.

Once it opens, go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT > Directory > Background > Shell on the left side.

Right-click on Shell and select New > Key from the menu. Give the new key a name like Turn Aero On. The name you use here will show up in your menu later.

Right-click on the new key you just created and select New > Key from the menu and give the key a name of command.

Once the command key is created, click on it then go over to the right side of the pane and double click on the (Default) text and change it to this: Rundll32 dwmApi #102

You'll then repeat this process to create a command for turning Aero off...

Right-click on Shell and select New > Key from the menu. Give the new key a name like Turn Aero Off. The name you use here will show up in your menu later.

Right-click on the new key you just created and select New > Key from the menu and give the key a name of command.

Once the command key is created, click on it then go over to the right side of the pane and double click on the (Default) text and change it to this: Rundll32 dwmApi #104

Once you are done, you can close the registry editor. Then you can right-click on your Desktop and there should be new commands called Turn Aero On and Turn Aero Off (or whatever you named the commands) in the context menu. Selecting the appropriate command then turns Aero on and off so that you can quickly optimize for speed or visual effects. You may need to reboot for the commands to show up.
Rating: 100% positive, 2 total Votes
Categories: Aero Vista customization regedit hack
Added: on Jul 30, 2008 at 8:00 am
Added By: an anonymous user

Comments on this Tip

Add a Comment
There are no comments for this tip
Your Comment:
(how to format)
Rate This Tip:

Verify Humanity:
Sorry, we know it's annoying, but please enter the characters shown in the image to the left so that we know you're an actual person and not an evil spammer. Thanks.
       

Related Tips

Change Manufacturer Properties in Vista

100% positive, 1 comment - last added 4 days, 18 hours ago
– Tip added by kant on Jun 05, 2008 at 8:14 am

Show Titles in Windows Explorer in Vista

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Nov 26, 2007 at 1:28 pm

Edit the number of Vista Start Menu Itms

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by geekalot on May 16, 2008 at 6:37 am

Showing all hidden files in Vista

Categories: windows Vista regedit hack
100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Jun 18, 2008 at 7:44 am

Turn off Vista notification balloons

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Jun 16, 2008 at 7:54 am

Setting the number of Recent Items in Vista

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by geekalot on Sep 24, 2007 at 7:03 am

Customize the Vista Bubbles screensaver

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user 3 days, 21 hours ago

Windows XP login message

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Nov 11, 2008 at 10:19 am

customize the iTunes sidebar labels

100% positive, 1 comment - last added on Sep 12, 2008 at 2:56 pm
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Sep 09, 2008 at 11:30 am

Type URLs and program names into the Vista taskbar

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Sep 08, 2008 at 4:05 pm

Change the Office 2007 color scheme in Vista

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Aug 24, 2008 at 8:06 am

Get rid of the Windows Mail splash screen

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Aug 01, 2008 at 8:19 am

Moving the Vista sidebar to another monitor

100% positive, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Jul 28, 2008 at 2:10 pm

Customize the Vista Ribbons screensaver

no ratings, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user 3 days, 13 hours ago

Disable Flip3d in Vista

Categories: Vista speed Aero
no ratings, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Oct 13, 2008 at 9:50 am

Remove the Windows Vista startup sound

no ratings, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Sep 22, 2008 at 12:14 pm

Windows Sidebar Is Managed By Your System Administrator

no ratings, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Aug 25, 2008 at 10:25 am

Hiding recent items in Vista

no ratings, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Aug 18, 2008 at 10:41 am

Increase cursor thickness in Vista

no ratings, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Aug 08, 2008 at 2:19 pm

Toggle the firewall in Vista on and off

no ratings, 0 comments
– Tip added by an anonymous user on Jul 31, 2008 at 1:32 pm