Vista's window animations and other eye candy are very cool. But they happen fast; Microsoft didn't want them to get in your way. That's a shame if you want to study the visual-FX majesty of these animations in more detail.

If you make this regedit tweak, though, you can make the window animation slow down on commandspecifically, whenever you're pressing the Shift key.

• Run regedit.exe

• Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows -> DWM.

• Right-click the DWM folder. From the shortcut menu, choose New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value AnimationsShiftKey.

• Double-click this value on the right side: The AnimationsShiftKey entry you just made. In the "Value data" box, type 1. Click OK.

• Wrap up: Quit regedit and then restart the PC. (To reverse the procedure, just delete the AnimationsShiftKey value you created.)

To see the effects in slow motion, press the Shift key just before they start to occur. For example, Shift-click a window's Close boxand watch in amazement as it slowwwwly fades into total transparency, like a ghost returning to the world beyond.

Or summon the Flip3D effect by pressing (window key) +Tab. Then, once the "deck of cards" window effect appears, hold down Shift as you tap your arrow keys, or click windows, to shuffle through them.