Windows: Deactivate window animation - how it works

If you find the animations disturbing when minimizing and maximizing windows under Windows, you can deactivate them. You can read here how it works.

Deactivate the window animations in Windows

1. Press the key combination [Win] + [R] to open the Run dialog. Then enter "SystemPropertiesPerformance" (without the quotation marks).
2. In the "Visual Effects" tab, make sure that the "Custom" option is selected. Then remove the checkmark from "Animation when minimizing and maximizing windows".
3. If you would also like to deactivate the animation of the preview window in the taskbar, remove the checkmark next to "Animation on the taskbar". Finally click on the OK button to confirm the changes.

This practical tip is based on Windows 8.1, but the procedure is identical under Windows 7. In another practical tip, we will show you how to shutdown Windows 8.1 faster.