Tag: AERO

While we've still yet to see anything truly Earth-shattering, the tandem of Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott continues to churn out insight about interesting new features they've discovered in Windows 8 milestone 3. The latest discovery is that Aero in Windows 8 will be able to automatically adapt itself to match your current wallpaper image. It's a bit like what Windows 7 already does with your ...

You know those neat thumbnails that you get when you hover over an icon in the Windows 7 taskbar? Did you ever notice how they're "live" and keep moving when a video is playing in a window that is minimized or otherwise obscured? OnTopReplica is a neat little tool that takes this functionality and lets you put one of those thumbnails anywhere on your screen, and it can be any size. Once you run ...

Windows 7 includes a whole slew of new built-in hotkeys. One set I find myself using quite a bit are the Aero Snap keys -- win + up, down, left, and right -- to quickly reposition application windows on my desktop. If you happen to use a Mac and you want the same functionality, Shift It can provide it. Launch the app, and it sits up in your status bar waiting for hotkeys to be pressed. ...

Like many of you who use Google Chrome and Chromium, I'm not a big fan of the Aero Peek thumbnail support. I actually prefer one-click access to my browser from the taskbar (rather than having to hover, pick a tab preview, and then click into it). Citing usability issues, the latest Chromium nightly builds have switched off support for Aero Peek. Said Chromium developer Hinori Bono, it will ...

Ages ago, Mozilla gave us all a sneak peek at what the updated default theme might look like in Firefox 3.7. In January, the UI elements finally made their first appearance. Now, it looks like Aero glass support has been switched on for users running Windows 7 and Vista. You can see the change from 3.7 Alpha 2 (top) to 3.7a4pre (bottom). As you can see, it's no longer just the title bar and ...

Everyone loves a little skin - for their apps, that is. Want a simple way to tweak your Windows 7 superbar? Try AeroWorks, a simple theming program created by DeviantArt user Solo-Dev. It ships with seven skins which can be previewed with one click and applied with another. They're only active while AeroWorks is running, so be sure to click the green minimize arrow and not the red x after ...

Those of you running Firefox on Windows 7 who were excited when taskbar previews landed, get ready for a little disappointment. It looks as though getting Aero features ready in time for the release of Firefox 3.6 is no longer part of the game plan. It was already known that jump list support won't be arriving until later on. After a lengthy discussion on Bugzilla, the decision was made to ...

Yesterday I told you about the new Firefox 3.6 Beta -- and today, I can show you a neat bit of Windows 7 integration. Windows 7 uses Microsoft's Aero window manager and theme -- you've probably heard about it, or learnt to hate it in Vista -- and in it there's a cool technology called 'Aero Peek'. As you can see in the screenshot above, in Firefox 3.6 Beta, Aero Peek is now fully enabled, and ...

How many times have you wanted a way to change Windows XP's color scheme? Blue is nice, olive and silver are also good for a change when you get sick of blue, but what if orange, purple, or black is your favorite color, and you want your computer's desktop scheme to reflect that? Do you revert back to that Windows 95 goodness in putrid grey because there aren't so many choices in XP? I hate to ...

Oh, how we love the Top 10 lists. TechWeb's Alexander Wolfe has written a Top 10 list that's actually one Top 6 list and one Bottom 4 list: Top 10 Windows Vista Hits & Misses, i.e. what's awesome in Vista and what ain't so great. Here's your basic spoiler: Hits: Sidebar and gadgets Pretty Aero interface Media Center integration Windows Media Player 11 Non-intrusive DRM Flip 3D ...

For those of you who don't want to (or can't) install the Windows Vista beta but want to see it in action, blogger Long Zheng has recorded a series of seven screencasts highlighting some of Vista's flashier new features, in particular the new Aero Glass UI, its new Media Center and search functionality, the much-touted Sidebar with its "gadgets," and the tablet PC experience. Oh, and you also get ...

Here's an interesting tidbit: Microsoft says that Windows Vista will check to make sure users have properly purchased the software before allowing them to use the flashy, much-hyped Aero interface. How they intend to do this remains a mystery, though CNet hints that it will be through the Microsoft's Genuine Advantage program. Considering that every anti-piracy measure put in place by Microsoft ...