Aero Glass

As a Windows user, it’s practically impossible to not have come across the wonderful interface changes that Aero brought with Vista and was perfected in 7. With the release of Windows 8, Microsoft opted to incorporate the Metro or typography-based design language. Except for a slight transparency in the taskbar, Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 offer none of the transparency and blur effects previously provided by Aero.

This is where Aero Glass steps in. It’s an application designed to bring back in newer Windows versions the aesthetics that Aero implemented in Vista and 7. It allows you to make the windows transparent, enabling you to see what’s beneath them and also adds the familiar blur effect.

Aero Glass integrates into the Desktop Windows Manager without compromising any system components. It uses the native Direct3D device to render the effects and colors. You can change the transparency and base colors directly from the Windows Colorization Control Panel. While you can make the entire window transparent and not just the frame, you might find that the window that is beneath the active one distracts attention and makes reading text hard. Being able to change the transparency value for the windows saves you from this potential problem.

The software utility is not a verified Windows component and in order for it to work properly, it needs to use the AppInit_DLLs registry value and inject the library into every process. So all of that needs to be done in order for be able to enjoy the changes that come with Aero Glass. Luckily, the application comes with an installer which makes that easier. It uses DWM resources and focused on consuming as few system resources as possible because it does not run any background services.

Aero looks great on Windows 8, 8.1 and 10, thanks to Aero Glass. The only problem with it is that it takes some computer knowledge to install it. There are three versions available for downloading from Softpedia, depending on which Windows version you have.