The Desktop Composition feature was first introduced in Windows Vista. It is basically a different way of rendering the graphics on screen. If the desktop composition is enabled and an application wants to draw something on the screen, it first draws it on an internal video buffer and then on to the real visible surface that you see on your computer screen. Desktop composition is required for all sorts of visual effects in Windows like glass frames, transparency, 3D animations, Aero, Windows Flip and Flip 3D and more. If your Windows PC is not exhibiting these visual effects, then perhaps the desktop composition is disabled on your PC.
If you want to enable desktop composition, then you can follow these steps:
- Press the keyboard combination Win + R to open the Run dialog. In the Run dialog, type SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe and press Enter.
- This would open the Advanced System Properties window. In this window, click on the Settings button under the Performance category.
- When the Performance Options window opens up, select the Visual Effects tab and check the checkbox labeled Enable desktop composition.
- Click on the OK button to save the settings.
After enabling the Desktop Composition, you would notice an improvement in the way different Windows effects are carried out (like Aero, 3D Flip, transparent windows border etc.). However, if your computer hardware is older and does not support Aero and other 3D effects in Windows Vista or 7, then you will not see any options to enable desktop composition.