Faster Windows with fewer visual effects

Microsoft has transformed the look of Windows over the past decade. The square, two-dimensional windows and dialogue boxes of XP have morphed into glossy 3D interface with drop shadows, full-window animation, transparency effects and all manner of other fancy furniture.Such beautification has a cost, though; if you have upgraded an older PC to Vista or Windows 7, then all that graphical finesse may have slowed it down considerably. Indeed, even XP’s limited visual effects can cause a computer to slow to a crawl.But all is not lost, because Windows XP, Vista and 7 enable you to turn off various visual effects, and this may give even an old PC an electronic leg-up. Here’s what to do.