how to improve desktop performance for windows aero

So, now you can work to the wee hours of the night, and not destroy your natural biorhythms with blue-soaked light. In the past, f.lux (opens in new tab) would be the go-to screen dimming tool, but we’re going to suggest SunsetScreen (opens in new tab), which has a portable install, and a more flexible dimming schedule to match your body clock.

Windows 10 does now include a night light feature as part of the Display settings, but it’s rather limited in options, and can be unavailable depending on your display driver.

We personally found it a little overwhelming, and would be a mammoth timesink for little gain, but we’re mentioning for completeness. Our other fluff-based recommendation is more of a throwaway, but it seems popular, and it’s CustomizerGod (opens in new tab), and the one job it does is enable you to change any and all system icons. These can then be easily applied via the right-click context menu. FolderMarker (image above) offers a host of alternatives, not only plain colors but also ones with handy attached icons. Sure, system folders-”Pictures,” “Downloads”-get their own icons, but user folders are all plain-jane yellow. If you have a folder full of, erm, folders, how are you supposed to visually tell them apart at a glance? In Windows, you can’t. We call FolderMarker (opens in new tab) fluff, but in fact it’s a genuinely useful tool. Turn off the grouping of pinned app windows, cycle between Taskbar buttons with your mouse wheel, assign a “close app” action to your middle mouse button, and much more. Customize the context menus, file explorer presets, and default tools.Īnother easy and free way to get more from the Taskbar itself is 7+ Taskbar Tweaker (opens in new tab), which enables you to configure aspects of the Windows 10 Taskbar you otherwise couldn’t. Bring back the old volume controls, disable web searches, and kill Live Tiles in one fell swoop-we’d pay money for that feature. Dump looking in the Windows Store, and control Windows Updates more easily. Of more use are the options to control the Aero Shake and Aero Snap features. We are trying to concentrate on actual productivity enhancers, but it’s good to see that Winaero covers off tweaking the color scheme of the default theme and the lock screen images. We stumbled across the awesome Winaero (opens in new tab), which is a complete Taskbar, desktop, menu, Windows, and more tweaking tool for Windows 7, 8, and 10 (image above). It lists and enables you to control your running programs, and with Windows 10, it extends features to virtual desktops, too. The Taskbar is an unsung hero of productivity.

How to improve desktop performance for windows aero