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I tried this on 2 PC and a notebook. Switching to a classic theme, or a high contrast theme (control panels -> personalization), make my PC much much faster.
And by faster I mean just desktop programs, Firefox, File browser, Alt-Tab. The responsiveness is instant. With the Windows 7 or 8 theme, it lags, and you don't know it lags until you try the classic or high contrast.
Try it.
Comments
I thought this was common knowledge. I think the performance difference only matters with hardware from the mid-2000s. For most part modern hardware it won't make a notable difference.
I thought Aero was dumped in Win8.
But yeah, in Vista/Win7, disabling it brought a big boost to most systems.
Never underestimate a toaster with a defrost button!
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche