Use Shock Aero to get Windows Vista Aero-style 3D task switching

Posted on October 2, 2007 at 10:21 am

Shock Aero brings the 3D task switching (Windows + Tab) Aero feature of Windows Vista to Windows XP and Windows 2000. For all of those Windows XP people out there who are still holding off from buying Windows Vista, you can get a little piece of the new operating system by using this cool little piece of software to make Windows XP look like Windows Vista.

Lots of people have wanted this feature ever since the launch of Windows Vista and this program does just that quite well. Using Shock Aero, you can use the same hotkey sequence, Windows + Tab, to access your open tabs. You can scroll through your tabs by pressing the hotkey sequence multiple times or by using your mouse scroll wheel.

Just like in Windows Vista, your Alt + Tab hotkey sequence will remain the same, so you can still use that if you prefer. The really nice thing about this program is that it really does a great job with the 3D aspect of the windows. However, it does use a little bit more memory than you would think, eating up around 15MB’s of RAM. But that’s not too terrible if you have a GB or more of RAM.

If you prefer, you can also view everything in Macintosh style format, where all of the windows are shown in a rectangular grid instead of a 3D flip book.

The software was spyware and adware free from my personal use of it, so you shouldn’t have any problems there. Overall, it’s a cool free program that will spice up desktops of Windows XP and Windows 2000 users a little bit! If you want more than that, such as the Start Menu, Taskbar, sidebar, buttons, etc, you’ll have to download Vista Transformation Pack.

via Freewaregenius