Toggle Vista’s Aero Effects with a Right-Click

Windows Vista’s Aero looks and effects are generally nice to look at, but when you’re trying to squeeze the last bit of power and life out of a battery, or just running some memory-hungry stuff, you don’t always need them. Windows Vista Magazine details a registry hack you can make to add “Aero On” and “Aero Off” shortcuts to your desktop right-click menu, making it simple and quick to toggle the fancier stuff (it’s the second major tip, about 1/3 down the page). We’ve already shown how to disable Aero for particular programs, but this trick might work better for working on the go, gaming, or other situations where you need to cut out the whiz-bang stuff.