Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Windows 7 Get Glass

We're all suckers for a pretty face. You may or may not think Aero Glass, the translucent interface introduced in Vista and refined in Windows 7, is actually pretty, but you can't deny that it's a welcome change from the homely, cartoonish look of XP, and a convenient way to see what's behind the window on top.

Glass also includes some flashy goodies, such as buttons that glow a cool blue when you roll over them with the mouse, live thumbnail previews of running tasks in the taskbar and the Alt-Tab window, the Aero Peek window and desktop preview feature, and the silly Flip3D Rolodex-style task switcher (Winkey+Tab).

If you got Windows 7 preinstalled on a new PC, you're probably already using the Glass interface. But what if you're using an older PC and you can't get Glass to work?

The problems with 7's Glass feature are twofold. First, Glass has somewhat hefty technical requirements, not the least of which is a fast video card with at least 32 Mb of video memory (or more for higher resolutions), a Vista/Windows 7-compatible WDDM video driver, and a 3D gaming feature called Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware. And because Aero Glass guzzles CPU cycles, you'll want a fast processor and a fast video card to enjoy it.

Second, it can be a little tricky to get all the pieces in place so that 7 will even give you the option of enabling the Glass interface.

So, without further ado, here's a fairly foolproof procedure to get Glass on your PC.

Part 1: Hardware

The number-one ingredient in a good Glass experience is a fast graphics card with sufficient video memory onboard.

A faster card, which you can only get by spending money on a replacement and installing it in your PC, will help offload the burden of the Glass interface, so your CPU is free to handle other tasks. (Or, if you have a video card with a graphics chip that can be overclocked, akin to, you can improve performance without spending a dime.) The card must also support a 3D feature called Pixel Shader 2.0 in its hardware (not software), and must be compatible with DirectX 9.

Modern desktop PCs take PCI-Express (PCIE) cards, and while Glass-capable PCIE cards are common, it can be difficult to find a sufficiently powerful card designed for the AGP slot in an older PC. But if you're not adverse to scrounging on eBay for a used or discontinued card, nVidia's 6800 series of AGP cards are up to the task, and are well-supported by nVidia's frequently updated drivers. If you're looking for topnotch AGP performance, look for a card with the nVidia 6800Ultra chip and 256 Mb of onboard memory.

Video memory may be a different matter. In most cases, video memory is permanently installed on your video card; unlike your PC's system memory, it can't be upgraded unless you replace your card. But if you have a laptop or low-end desktop, your video is likely built into your motherboard, and its video memory is merely a portion of your PC's system memory (which is upgradable). This means that it may be possible to allocate more system memory for your video (at the expense of memory Windows can use) by changing a setting or two in your system BIOS.

So, how much video memory do you need? It depends on your screen's resolution, but a basic rule of thumb is that you need a minimum of about 48 bytes of video memory for each pixel on your screen.

The amount of video memory required to use Glass at common screen resolutions

Resolution	Aspect ratio	# of pixels	Video memory required
800x600	4:3	480,000	32 MB
960x600	16:10	576,000	32 MB
1024x768	4:3	786,432	64 MB
1152x864	4:3	995,328	64 MB
1280x720	16:9	921,600	64 MB
1280x768	5:3	983,040	64 MB
1280x800	16:10	1,024,000	64 MB
1280x960	4:3	1,228,800	64 MB
1280x1024	5:4	1,310,720	64 MB
1360x768	16:9	1,044,480	64 MB
1600x1024	25:16	1,638,400	128 MB
1600x1200	4:3	1,920,000	128 MB
1920x1080	16:9	2,073,600	128 MB
1920x1200	16:10	2,304,000	128 MB
2560x1440	16:9	3,686,400	256 MB
2560x1600	16:10	4,096,000	256 MB
2560x1920	4:3	4,915,200	256 MB

As you can see, it may be possible to get Glass with as little as 32 MB of video memory on some lower resolutions-and there are those who have achieved this-but depending on your card and its driver, your mileage may vary. Also, it's worth pointing out that memory requirements are doubled on a dualmonitor setup: a single video card must have at least 256 MB to drive two screens that would otherwise need 128 MB each.

As for your PC, it's a good idea to have at least 2-3 gigabytes of system memory (RAM). Although you can get away with less-and you may have to if your video memory is being shared with your system memory as described earlier- you may not find the performance acceptable on a PC with merely 1 GB. See the next section, "Maximize the Windows Performance Rating" in this tutorial, for ways to measure whether your processor and hard disk are also up to running Glass.

Part 2: Software

With the hardware elements in place, the next thing to worry about is your video driver. Although Windows 7 comes with drivers for most common display adapters, the best driver you're likely to get is the one provided by the maker of the chip on your video card.

The most common video chips are nVidia GeForce and ATI Radeon; if you're not sure who makes the video card in your PC, open Device Manager in Control Panel and expand the Display adapters branch. Just make sure the driver supports the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM); in most cases, the driver must be expressly written for Windows 7 or Vista.

Once you're certain you have the latest video driver, follow these steps to enable Glass:

1. Update your Windows Experience Index, as described in "Maximize the Windows Performance Rating" later in this tutorial, so that Windows can reassess your video subsystem's capabilities. You may need to restart Windows if the Performance Information and Tools window doesn't update your score after a reasonable wait. You must have a video score of at least 3.0 to run Glass.
2. In Control Panel, go to the Display page, and click the Adjust resolution link.
3. Click the Advanced settings link, choose the Monitor tab, and from the Colors list, select True Color (32-bit).
   If you know how much video memory is installed on your video card, refer to Table above, earlier in this section, to determine the highest screen resolution you can use with Glass. If needed, return to the Screen Resolution page and select a lower set of values from the Resolution list.
4. Click OK to return to Control Panel and then switch to the System page.
5. Click the Advanced system settings link on the left side (or run System- PropertiesAdvanced.exe), and in the Performance section, click the Settings button.
6. Turn on the Enable desktop composition and Enable transparent glass options, and then click OK and then OK again to close the two windows.
7. Back in Control Panel, go to the Personalization page, and select one of the themes in the Aero Themes section. After a brief delay, the Glass interface should now be active.
8. If you don't get transparent Glass at this stage, click the Window Color link at the bottom of the window, and turn on the Enable transparency option. Adjust the Color intensity slider to change the transparency level of the window borders: move it further to the right to make windows more opaque. Click Save changes when you're done.
9. If Glass still isn't working, open your Start menu, and in the Search box, type Aero. In a moment, several search results will appear; click Find and fix problems with transparency and other visual effects and follow the prompts.

If you still don't have Glass at this point, either your video card or your video driver is to blame. See if your video card maker has made a display BIOS upgrade available; for laptops, a system BIOS update should accomplish the same thing.

Part 3: Tweaks

It doesn't take a degree from Art Center to notice that Microsoft took some design cues from the Aqua interface in Mac OS X (not that Apple didn't borrow some of its ideas, too). While Microsoft actually managed to outdo Apple in a few areas-the minimize, maximize, and close buttons spring to mind-the Flip 3D task switcher is no match for Expose, the Mac's all-at-once task switcher. Luckily, you can mimic Expose with Switcher, free from http://insentient.net/.

If you find the aforementioned title bar buttons-minimize, maximize, and close-too big (or not big enough), you can resize them. Open the Personalization page in Control Panel, click the Window Color link at the bottom and then click the Advanced appearance settings link. From the Item list, select Active Title Bar (or just click the little titlebar in the preview pane), and then use the Size control to the right to shrink or grow the title bar. (The minimum value is 17 pixels and the maximum is 100.) The preview shows the classic interface only, so take your best guess, and click OK to see how it looks.