In Windows 7 and earlier in Windows Vista, moving windows on the desktop is animated with so-called Aero effects. In the animated themes of Windows 7, including the initial default one, it can be seen that the windows can be scrolled and moved with three-dimensional animations, with effects of transparency, shadows and translucent colors.
In addition to Windows Aero, in Windows 7 and also in Windows 8, other animated window effects have been hidden which, it is not known for what reason, cannot be activated either via a Control Panel option, or through a modification registry keys.
These animation effects of Windows windows can finally be unlocked through a simple and small automatic program.
Previously, the method to allow hidden animations of Windows folders required the replacement of the ExplorerFrame.dll file, with a customized one, but this modification was never taken too much into consideration due to the difficulty of having to touch a system file.
The very small AniExplorer application instead allows you to unlock hidden animations in Windows 7 windows with a simple click, without having to make any changes and without having to keep any program active.
AniExplorer can be downloaded for free from the Winaero developer website (press the gray Download button at the bottom of the page) and it is a zip archive to be extracted in a folder.
The package contains two executable files, one for 32-bit Windows and the other for 64-bit systems .
Without having to do any installation, you can launch one or the other file to enter the Windows secret effects activation panel.
The animations are of 4 types and concern the appearance of icons in windows.
- Vertical Rectangle makes icons appear as if they were falling from above.
- Position drops them from the top left corner.
- Horizontal lets the icons enter the window in an animated way from the left side.
- Alpha is an icon transparency effect that varies according to your preferences.
Each animation of the windows can be applied by selecting them and then pressing the Apply button which reloads the resource explorer, making each window and the taskbar disappear for a moment.
Then open a folder or the Start menu and check how the icons and files appear differently on the screen.
For the three input effects, you can also choose the animation speed among 4 levels.
If after pressing the Apply button an error appears, do not worry: click on Continue, then on Restore Default and then on Apply again, the error disappears.
In any case, you can deactivate all the settings by pressing on Restore .
After applying an animation effect, you can close Aniexplorer which does not remain in the background since the various animations are internal to Windows.
The video below shows the available animations that can be activated by AnyExplorer. through this app.
I remember that it is possible to animate Windows also through other tools that add Compiz cube 3D effects on windows and virtual desktops
