Before I move on to discussing Files and Folders, in this part 11 of my Windows 7 tutorial I want to review four of Windows 7's most useful Desktop Aero features.

And they are:
Aero Peek: It provides a thumbnail preview of a window(s) without actually opening it by simply hovering over the icon in the taskbar. Click on a thumbnail and you’ll be taken to that window. Peek also works with Internet Explorer tabs.

Show Desktop: To quickly preview or to go back and forth to your Desktop, click on the Show Desktop bar at the far right end of the Windows Taskbar and Notification area.

Aero Shake: If you have many windows open on your desktop and only want to look at one, left click on it, hold it and shake it! All the other windows will minimize. Shake it again and all your other windows will restore.

Aero Snap: If you click and drag a window up to the top of the screen it’ll automatically maximize itself. If you have two windows open and want to view them side by side, click and drag one to the right edge of the screen and the other to the left. They’ll both resize automatically to fit the screen

If you find you’re not able to access all of these Aero features or for that matter any other of the many Windows 7 visual effects, it may be because by default Windows 7 is set to automatically adjust its Aero effects based on your system’s Windows Experience Index Rating (Start, Control Panel, Systems).

So if you would not mind a wee bit of a performance slow down, you can enable some or all of them by:
1. Depending on how you view your Control Panel, Click Start, Control Panel, System and Security, System or Start, Control Panel, System.
2. Click on Advanced system settings and then Performance settings.
3. Under the visual effects tab you should see that the option ‘ Let windows choose what’s best for my computer’ is by default checked.
4. Below it will be a list of all available visual effects. If any are unchecked you’re not experiencing the full range of Aero features.
5. Select the Custom option and then select all the effects from the list below it. Click Apply and OK.

All your Aero effects will be enabled.

Note: Conversely if you become disenchanted with an Aero effect you can uncheck it.

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.