Windows uses a range of small animations and visual flourishes by default – windows fading in, menus sliding open, taskbar thumbnails previewing smoothly. They look nice on modern hardware, but on an older or budget PC they can make the whole desktop feel like it's working through treacle. Turning them off costs nothing and can make everyday use feel noticeably quicker.
Key takeaway: Switching to "Adjust for best performance" in Windows' visual effects settings removes animation delays and can make an older PC feel much snappier to use.
Turning off visual effects
- Press the Windows key, type Advanced system settings, and open it (this launches the System Properties window).
- Under the Advanced tab, click Settings in the Performance section.
- In the Performance Options window, select Adjust for best performance to switch everything off at once, or choose Custom to pick and choose.
- If going custom, keep Smooth edges of screen fonts ticked for readability, but untick items like "Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing", "Fade or slide menus into view", "Show shadows under windows" and "Animate controls and elements inside windows".
- Click Apply, then OK.
Turning off animations via Settings
- Open Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects.
- Switch off Animation effects to remove window and taskbar animations system-wide.
- You can also turn off Transparency effects here at the same time for an additional performance saving.
Tip: "Adjust for best performance" gives the biggest speed feeling but makes Windows look quite dated. The Custom option lets you keep the effects you like (such as font smoothing) while dropping the ones that actually cost performance.
Before you start: These changes are purely cosmetic and fully reversible – you can return to "Let Windows choose what's best for my computer" at any time with no side effects.
Why this actually helps on older hardware
Animations rely on your integrated graphics processor and a small amount of CPU time to calculate each frame of a transition. On modern hardware this is instant and invisible. On an older or low-power integrated GPU, however, that calculation can introduce a perceptible lag every time you open a menu or minimise a window – small delays that add up across a whole day of use. Removing them means Windows responds to your click immediately rather than playing out a transition first.
A quick word on Windows 11's rounded corners and effects
Windows 11 also introduced rounded window corners and a redesigned Start menu, neither of which can be switched off through the built-in settings, and neither of which meaningfully affects performance on their own – they're static visual choices rather than ongoing animations. The animations and effects covered in this guide are the ones that genuinely cost processing time every time you interact with something, which is why they're the ones worth disabling first on an older machine.
Tip: If you found this useful, it pairs particularly well with turning off transparency effects, covered in our separate guide, for the fullest performance benefit from Windows' visual settings.
Altogether, these are free, instant, fully reversible changes that cost nothing to try. If you don't notice a difference, or simply prefer the way Windows looks with effects enabled, switching everything back on takes exactly the same few clicks.
Frequently asked questions
- Will disabling animations affect how programs run?
- No, this only changes cosmetic transitions within Windows itself and has no effect on how your applications function.
- Can I turn individual effects back on later?
- Yes, return to the same Performance Options or Accessibility settings at any time and re-enable exactly the effects you want.
- Does this help laptops with a dedicated graphics card too?
- The performance gain is smaller on machines with a dedicated GPU, but it's still a free, instant change worth making, especially if you also want a cleaner, faster-feeling interface.