If you’re missing the Aero glass effects and 3D-flip in Windows Vista or Windows 7, here’s how you can fix it.

First, are you using the Home Premium, Enterprise, Professional, or Ultimate editions? Good, because the Home Basic and Starter editions don’t support Aero. If you’re not sure, click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. The edition of Windows 7 is under Windows edition near the top of the window.

Next, make sure you’re using an Aero theme:

1. Click Start and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Appearance and Personalization.

3. Click Personalization.

4. Click one of the Aero themes.

Problem solved? If not, make sure that your graphics card is powerful enough for Aero by checking the WEI. It needs to be 3.0 or higher. If it’s lower, you’ll need to upgrade your graphics card to take advantage of Aero. If you’re using a laptop computer, you’ll need to upgrade your whole computer. Don’t sweat it, though–Aero isn’t anything you can’t live without.

Once you’ve verified that your graphics card meets the hardware requirements, you should also verify that the video driver is WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model). Basically, that means the driver was developed specifically for Windows Vista or Windows 7. Visit your video card manufacturer’s website (or your computer manufacturer’s website) and download the latest Windows Vista or Windows 7 driver. Not sure what type of video card you have? Click Start, type devmgmt.msc, and expand the Display Adapters node. It’ll be listed within.

So, you’ve enabled an Aero theme and your graphics card is up to the task. Next, make sure the Themes service is started:

1. Click Start. Right-click Computer and then click Manage.

2. Select the Services and Applications\Services node.

3. In the details pane, click the Themes service. If it doesn’t say Started, that’s the problem. Right-click it and then click Properties. Set the Startup type to Automatic, and then click the Start button. Click OK.

Aero should start right away. If not, follow the steps at the beginning of this article to make sure you have an Aero theme enabled.

Still not working? Let’s rely on some automated troubleshooting!

If you’re using Windows Vista, run this automated Aero troubleshooter.

If you’re using Windows 7, do this:

1. Click Start and then click Control Panel.

2. In the upper-right corner, click the Search box. Then, type Aero.

3. Click Find and fix problems with transparency and other visual effects (as shown at the top of this article).

4. Follow the prompts that appear–hopefully it fixes your problem!

Still not working? Leave a comment below describing the problem and I’ll try and help you out.

Microsoft funded a study by Principled Technologies to compare the performance of the Windows XP user interface to the Windows Vista Aero interface. Here’s my summary:

• Comparisons were done with a variety of different computers, some more powerful than others. Naturally, the Aero tests required computers capable of running Aero. So, these results don’t necessarily apply to your old XP computer.
• With or without Aero, Vista performs about the same on business tasks (like opening Office documents). Some things are faster, some are slower, but it’s a wash overall.
• Vista with Aero performs about the same as Vista without Aero. So, don’t feel like you need to disable Aero for performance.
• Though all my computers are capable, I can’t run Aero because screenshots look awful. I’m fine with either interface. I’m just saying, even if Aero did cause a performance impact and you wanted to turn it off, the other Vista improvements more than make up for it.

When you buy software, there’s always a list of computer requirements on the side. It looks something like this (taken from World of Warcraft):

• 800 MHz or higher CPU.
• 256 MB or more of RAM.
• 32 MB 3D graphics card with hardware Transform and Lighting, such as GeForce 2 or better.
• 4 GB or more of available hard drive space.
• DirectX® 9.0c or above.
• A 56k or higher modem with an Internet connection.

That’s pretty hard to understand if you’re not a computer guy. Windows Experience Index (WEI) gives you a single number, and a set of numbers, that summarize your computer’s capabilities. So, if I want to buy a game for my Dell Latitude D820 with a WEI of 3.1, I just have to make sure that the game’s minimum WEI is 3.1 or lower. Software can also be more specific, and list a Graphics or Gaming Graphics requirement. As you can see from my score, my graphics are the weak link in my computer. (info on interpreting and improving WEI after the jump)

When you install Windows Vista, it calculates a WEI for you. The WEI base score (3.1 in my case) is the LOWEST of your five WEI subscores. That makes sense, because it’s your slowest component that bottlenecks your computer’s performance. To view your WEI, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

2. In the System window, click Windows Experience Index.

If you have a score of 2 or higher, you’re fine for browsing the Web, reading e-mail, and using Office apps. If you have a WEI lower than 3, you can’t run the translucent, 3d Aero interface. A base score of 4 or higher means you can run all the new Windows Vista features without slowing down, including recording and playing back HDTV. A base score of 5 is the fastest computer available at the time Windows Vista was released, but we’ll certainly see faster computers soon.
To improve your WEI, start by updating as many of your drivers as possible. The easiest way to do this is to run Windows Update by clicking Start, typing Update, and then clicking Windows Update. Then, click Check for updates, and install any available hardware updates.

If that doesn’t solve your problems, check your computer manufacturer’s website for updated drivers. Last, check your video adapter manufacturer’s website for new drivers. New drivers can only improve your performance a little, though. If your hardware isn’t fast enough, it might be time to upgrade the component with the lowest WEI score. Check this page (which I wrote for Windows XP) for general information on how to upgrade hardware. If your computer is more than a couple of years old, it might be time to buy a whole new computer.

After you update a driver or upgrade your hardware, open the WEI score window again, and then click Update my score near the bottom-right corner of the window. Windows Vista will re-test your computer and give you a new score.

If it’s not working for you, first make sure that your pressing Windows+Tab, and not Alt+Tab.

If you’re pressing the right keys, Aero might not be enabled (3D-Flip requires Aero). Follow these steps to troubleshoot Aero.

2. Click Appearance and Personalization.

3. Under Personalization, click Change the color scheme.

4. In the Appearance Settings dialog, click Windows Vista Basic, and then click OK. Or, if you prefer a Windows 2000-style interface, click Windows Standard, and then click OK.

Windows Vista will think for a bit, and then it’ll turn off all the 3D effects.