Table of contents

‘It’s a visual world

and people respond to visuals’

Joe Sacco

A lot of thought has been put into Windows visual effects to make them as appealing as they look now. Indeed, user interface (UI) animation makes your Windows experience much more exciting. That said, some users consider this feature redundant, and they have a point there. Windows visual effects are often rather distracting, which is bad if you use your machine for work, and on top of that, they can make your system less responsive. With these things in mind, you might be looking how to disable UI animation on Windows 10, 8, or 8.1. If so, you can easily do that by using the instructions from this very article.

How to stop animation on Windows 10, 8.1, and 8 via Performance Settings

  1. Locate the Search box. Tap in “computer” (without quotes) and hit Enter to proceed.
  2. Right-click on Computer/This computer. Select Properties.
  3. Locate and click Advanced system settings.
  4. Move to the Performance section. Click on the Settings button.
  5. Once in the Performance Options window, navigate to the Visual Effects tab.
  6. Check the Custom option.
  7. Deselect those animations you would like to get rid of.
  8. Click Apply and OK to save the changes.

How to disable UI animation on Windows 10, 8, or 8.1 via Ease of Access

  1. Go to Search and type Control Panel.
  2. Click on the corresponding result.
  3. Click Ease of Access.
  4. Select Optimize visual display.
  5. Move down to “Make things on the screen easier to see”.
  6. Check the “Turn off all unnecessary animations (when possible)” option.
  7. Save your changes to do away with visual effects on Windows.

Now you know how to stop animation on Windows 10, 8, or 8.1. Nonetheless, doing that may not be enough to improve your PC stability and performance. What you should also do is make sure all your drivers are up to date. Undoubtedly, for this purpose, your best bet is using a special tool. For instance, Auslogics Driver Updater can do the job for you in just one click – and in practically no time. Just relax and wait until you get the latest manufacturer-recommended versions of the driver software your system needs to perform at its best.

However, if you wish to check all your drivers yourself for some reason, you can make use of the built-in Device Manager tool, but bear in mind that this method is rather taxing and does not guarantee success.

Here is what you should do:

  1. Search for Device Manager via your Search bar.
  2. Select Device Manager from the list of results.
  3. Now you can see all your devices. One by one, right-click them and select Update driver/Update driver software.
  4. Make sure to configure Device Manager to search for the necessary drivers online.
  5. Restart your PC after installing your new drivers.


If after disabling animation and updating all your drivers, you see that your system is still struggling to reach its peak performance, the problem might stem from the clutter that is clogging your Windows or incorrect settings. You can thoroughly examine your system yourself (just make sure to inspect every nook and cranny of your Windows) or employ a special program to get things done – the choice is yours. To save yourself a lot of time and effort, you can use Auslogics BoostSpeed: this intuitive tool will tweak the most important settings of your system and carefully remove PC junk so that you can get the most out of your Windows.

Has disabling animation helped you improve your PC performance?

We are looking forward to your comments!