In Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced the DWM (Desktop Window Manager) which implements fancy animation effects, transparency and Aero skins for window frames. Ever since Vista, it allows you to slow down window animations by pressing the Shift key (the animation you see when any dialog or window appears on screen, or when minimizing, or closing a window). This is a hidden feature that has to be enabled with a registry tweak. Read the rest of this article to learn how to enable it.
Open Registry Editor (you can press Win+R and type regedit.exe in the "Run..." dialog) and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
Bonus tip: How to jump to the desired registry key with one click
You should create here a new DWORD value AnimationsShiftKey. Set it to 1.
registry editor
Well, you are almost done. Now log off and log in back into your Windows user account to see the change.
Ttry holding down the Shift key on the keyboard and try to minimize any window by pressing the Minimize button in the title bar.
How to reset animations to their defaults
Just remove AnimationsShiftKey mentioned above and log off from Windows. That's it.
If you don't like to use Registry Editor, try out my all-in-one application Winaero Tweaker software. It supports the AnimationsShiftKey feature in Appearance -> Slow Down Animations:
Use the appropriate checkbox to enable/disable animations slowdown.
Support us
Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options:
If you like this article, please share it using the buttons below. It won't take a lot from you, but it will help us grow. Thanks for your support!
Advertisеment
