Reduce Visual Effects and Animations in Windows 7 and Vista

As soon as you log into Windows 7, you're treated to a sleek, modern feel. All the animations ebb and flow, while fading eloquently into view. Well, that's great for about 20 minutes before it starts getting annoying. If you're like me, you would rather pass on the eye candy and just use the computer. Another reason to get rid of the visual effects is to help make an older computer run smoother. It's annoying and distracting to keep seeing your windows slowly fade in and out. I really like the look of Windows 7, don't get me wrong, but the animations have to go.

Let's put the windows search to use. Click on the start menu button and search for "advanced system settings". Then, click on view advanced system settings. (if you have search turned off like a moron, go to control panel> click on system, then on the left hand bar, click advanced system settings)

Once the menu slides into view, hit the advanced tab. next, click on settings under the performance section.

This window will list all of the visual effects that Windows employs. By default it is on "Let windows choose", but we want to change it so we remove the more annoying animations.

Let windows choose what's best for my computer: Right, I'm going to trust you to tell me what's best for me. 
Adjust for best appearance: Turns all of the animations and effects on
Adjust for best performance: Party like it's 1996.
Custom: You can adjust individual items in a list

This part is really up to personal preference. For me, I just want to get rid of slow-ass animations, so anything that starts with "animate", "fade" or "slide" I'm getting rid of. I leave the rest of the options alone like enable aero peek, and transparent glass, since all of these add to the visual appearance of Windows and aren't animations.