From HowToGeek

Windows Aero is the new graphical user interface (GUI) in all versions of Windows Vista except Basic. The name is an acronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Requirements 3 Flip3D 4 History 5 WPF 6 See Also 7 References

Overview

Aero contains transparency, live thumbnails, and animations. The new effects are provided through the new Desktop Window Manager (DWM) compositing layer in Vista, which handles drawing to the screen.

Requirements

Not all computers can run the Windows Aero Glass interface. According to Microsoft, these are the minimum requirements:

• 1GHz processor
• 1 GB of RAM
• DirectX 9 compatible video card with a Vista-enabled driver (WDDM), Pixel Shader 2.0 and 128 MB RAM.
• At least a 10 Hz refresh rate and 32 bit color

If you have a fairly recent video card from a major manufacturer such as ATI or NVIDIA, you should be able to run Aero without any problems, although disabling it may still give a small speed boost, especially when running graphics-intensive programs such as 3D games or CAD packages.

Flip3D

One of the more flashy additions in the Aero interface is the Flip3D window switcher component, accessible through the Win+Tab shortcut key combination.

It is possible to disable Flip3D through a registry hack, and even replace it with an alternative such as Switcher.

History

WPF

Todo: Explain WPF here

See Also

• Disable Aero on Windows Vista
• Disable Flip3D in Windows Vista
• Enable Slow Motion Aero Animations in Windows Vista
• Increase Size of Windows Vista Taskbar Previews

References

• Windows Aero [microsoft.com]
• Switcher [insentient.net]

List of Windows Components v
Features	Windows Aero - System Restore - Previous Versions - SuperFetch - User Account Control (UAC) - Offline Files - ReadyDrive - Instant Search - Windows Sidebar - Parental Controls - Speech Recognition - ClearType - DirectX 10 - ReadyBoost - BitLocker - Flip3D - Remote Desktop - Search Folders - Tablet PC - Windows SideShow
Services	Task Scheduler - Desktop Window Manager - Application Experience - Application Host Helper Service - Application Information - Application Layer Gateway Service - Application Management - Background Intelligent Transfer Service - Base Filtering Engine - Block Level Backup Engine Service - Certificate Propagation - COM+ Event System - Computer Browser - DHCPClient
Applications	Notepad - Windows Mail - Internet Explorer - Command Prompt (Cmd.exe) - Windows Calendar - Mobility Center - Task Manager - Photo Gallery - Windows Media Center - Windows Media Player - Wordpad - Windows Sidebar - Snipping Tool - Windows Contacts - Device Manager - Disk Defragmenter - Event Viewer - Fax and Scan - Windows Journal - Windows Meeting Space - Windows DVD Maker - Windows Easy Transfer
Security	User Account Control (UAC) - Windows Defender - Windows Firewall
Admin Tools	Control Panel - Device Manager - Microsoft Management Console (MMC)