Windows Vista Annoyance #6: Turning on Windows Aero

All the cool Vista features you’re seeing on advertisements, like Flip-and-Flip and thumbnails from the Windows bar and all that?  They come on when Windows Aero is enabled.  Most of the time, Windows Aero isn’t enabled by default on a new or upgraded computer.

(Yes, I sorta discussed this topic when I explained how to turn on Windows Flip-and-Flip.  But I thought that actually turning on Windows Aero was important enough to have its own blog post.)

First of all, what version of Windows Vista do you have?  To find out what Windows Vista version you have, click on the Windows logo at the lower left corner, right-click on “Computer,” and select Properties. Under “Windows Edition,” it’d tell you which Vista version you have and whether it’s the 32-bit or 64-bit version, along with a link to “Upgrade Vista.”

If you have Windows Vista Basic, you’re outta luck.  Windows Aero is available only on Vista Home Premium and up.  Microsoft isn’t being too forthright about this, eh?

If you’re lucky enough (or your pocketbook’s deep enough) to have Vista Home Premium or Ultimate or better, then here’s how you can turn Windows Aero on.

1) Click on the Windows logo at the lower left corner

2) Select Control Panel, and then select Personalization

3) Click on “Window Color and Appearance”

4) If you then see a row of 8 colors, you need to click on the last link, “Open classic appearance properties for more color options”

5) In the “Appearance Settings” window, under “Color Scheme,” select “Windows Aero”

6) Click on “OK”

7) Windows will then update the display properties of, well, everything.

And you’ve activated Windows Aero!  Have fun.