Windows Aero is the best-designed, highest-performing Microsoft user interface ever. Available to PCs using a compatible graphics adapter and running the Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition of Windows Vista, Windows Aero gives your PC a whole new look and feel. Windows Aero offers a premium user experience that makes it easier to visualise and work with your information, and it provides a smoother, more stable desktop experience.
Two exciting new Windows Aero features, Windows Flip and Windows Flip 3D, enable you to confidently manage the windows on your desktop by arranging them in a visually striking yet convenient way. Beyond the new graphics and visual polish, the Windows Aero desktop performance is as smooth and professional as it looks, providing a simple and high-quality experience.
Immediately noticeable is the new translucent effect on the Start menu and window borders, a professional-looking ‘glass’ design enhanced by subtle effects such as dynamic reflections and smooth animations. Designed for comfort and simplicity, the new ‘glass’ windows convey a sense of lightweight openness that frees you to focus on your content rather than your environment.
Translucent clarity.
You can change the colour, the saturation and even the level of transparency to get exactly the look and feel you want.
Personalise your windows.
When you minimise a window, it smoothly animates to its place on the taskbar, so it's easier to find when you need it.
Windows Aero supports high-resolution monitors, so you can get a laptop or flat-screen monitor that's smaller in size but visually richer, displaying high-resolution, easy-to-read images. Windows Vista can even up-scale both its interface and certain programs to a stunning 144 dpi, a boon for people who rely on high-demand, graphics-intensive programs.
Live taskbar icons simplify your work.
In Windows Aero, live taskbar thumbnail images display the actual contents of both windows that are currently open and those that are minimised in the taskbar. When you rest your mouse pointer on a tile on the taskbar, you'll see the ‘live’ contents of that window without having to bring it to the foreground.
ALT+TAB shows a tiny view of every window.
Windows Flip is an update to the feature known as ALT+TAB in previous versions of Windows. Windows Flip shows you live thumbnails of your open windows instead of generic icons, making it easier to quickly identify the windows you're looking for. One of the windows displayed will always be your desktop itself, giving you a fast and simple way to minimise all the open windows on your desktop.
Page through open windows with three-dimensional ease.
Windows Flip 3D gives you a new way to find the window you want. When you press Start+TAB, Windows Flip 3D dynamically displays all the open windows on your desktop in a 3D, stacked view. In this view, you can rotate through your open windows to find the one you're looking for. Windows Flip 3D can even show live processes such as playing video. You can also use the arrow keys or the scroll wheel on your mouse to smoothly flip through the open windows and select the window you need.
When you use Windows Aero, open windows glide across your screen as you move or resize them. You'll see no redraw artifacts, latency, or ‘tearing’ effects that sometimes appear on existing interfaces. In Windows Aero, you'll also experience fewer graphics driver-related system failures and stop errors.
