Windows 7 is just around the corner and there are some good things in store for PC users who are looking for ways to speed up computer performance. Windows 7 still has plenty of options that will sacrifice the user’s speed, but there are a few major design changes that will help Windows make better use of its installed memory.

Graphics Memory Handling

Windows 7 takes a different approach to managing graphics memory usage. In previous versions of Windows, the graphics memory allocated to a particular application was reserved, whether an application window was open on the desktop or minimized. With Windows 7, the only time graphics memory is allocated to an application is when an application window is active. By itself, that will speed up computer performance.

One “feature” of Windows 7 that may seriously impair performance is the Aero theme. Yes, the same Aero theme that made its appearance in Microsoft Vista is back in Windows 7, along with a few partners: Aero Peek, Aero Snap and Aero Shake. The Aero theme gained a reputation as a memory hog. That’s the desktop theme with the see-through Window frames. Aero Peek, which is enabled by default, will give you a thumbnail view of an application window you have open on the desktop when you mouse over its tab in the task bar. Peek will also make the previewed window active and fade out all other application windows when you mouse over its thumbnail.

Aero Snap allows you to neaten up your desktop by dragging and dropping unused windows to the screen corners. This will enable you to resize and reshape the Windows automatically. A window moved to the side of your screen will shrink by 50%. It will return to its normal size when you drag the window back to its original location.

Aero Shake is a new feature that will enable you to minimize all other open windows on the desktop by selecting one window, holding down the mouse button and shaking it. Only the window you’ve selected will remain open. To re-open the other application windows, grab the one open application window and shake it again.

On the surface, the Aero features seem like they could be useful, but they also have the potential to take up a lot of memory, unless Microsoft re-engineered Aero to be more efficient. On the other hand, Microsoft should be commended for taking some time to create features that users might actually like.

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