The Flip 3D feature in Vista looks nice but in practice it's nearly useless. If you want to free up some resources, here's how to disable Flip 3D.

1 - Open the registry editor by going to the Start menu and searching for regedit.

2 - In the left pane of the regedit window, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE + SOFTWARE + Policies + Microsoft + Windows + DWM. Note that if you do not have the DWM directory you can create by getting to the Windows directory and then right-clicking and selecting New > Key and giving the new key the name DWM.

3 - In the empty right-hane pane, right-click and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name the new entry DisallowFlip3d.

4 - Double click on the new value, and enter a value for it of 1.

5. Close regedit.

The change to disable Flip 3D will not actually take effect until you log off or reboot your computer.

If you decide that you want to re-enable Flip 3D, you can open regedit and delete the DisallowFlip3d field by right-clicking on it. Once it's gone and you log off/reboot, Flip 3D will be enabled again.