I had a similiar problem ... the settings didn't apply the way they were supposed to. The thing is, you gotta set a value of "DefaultValue" to the setting you want (1 - on, 0 - off) and alway set the "DefaultApplied" to 1 (the Default will be Applied). The first setting, "VisualFXSetting" is 3 because these settings are the costum settings. [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects] "VisualFXSetting"=dword:00000003 ;Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\AnimateMinMax] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 ;Slide open combo boxes [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\ComboBoxAnimation] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 ;Show shadows under mouse pointer [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\CursorShadow] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 ;Show window contents while dragging [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\DragFullWindows] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000001 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000001 ;Show shadows under menus [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\DropShadow] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 ;Smooth edges of screen fonts [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\FontSmoothing] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000001 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000001 ;Smooth-scroll list boxes [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\ListBoxSmoothScrolling] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 ;Show translucent selection rectangle [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\ListviewAlphaSelect] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 ;Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\ListviewShadow] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000001 ;Use a background image for each folder type [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\ListviewWatermark] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 ;Fade or slide menus into view [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\MenuAnimation] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 ;Fade out menu items after clicking [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\SelectionFade] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 ;Slide taskbar buttons [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\TaskbarAnimations] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 ;Use visual styles on windows and buttons [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\Themes] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 ;Fade or slide ToolTips into view [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\TooltipAnimation] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 ;Use common tasks in folders [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\WebView] "DefaultApplied"=dword:00000001 "DefaultValue"=dword:00000000 "DefaultByAlphaTest"=dword:00000000 You should apply these settings with the cmdlines.txt. That works for me. If it doesn't work, also do the above for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. P.S. I don't really know what "DefaultByAlphaTest" means, but I saw it at one entry, so I put it everywhere, just to be sure. P.P.S I import the HKEY_CURRENT_USER settings at cmdlines.txt and the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE when I get in Windows Hope that helps, PiPi EDIT: Just found these entries in my .REG files as well, not sure, if they matter, but still... ; NOTE ... PROBABLY VALID JUST FOR MY ENTRIES [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] "UserPreferencesMask"=hex:90,12,01,80 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics] "MinAnimate"="0" ; NOTE ... PROBABLY VALID JUST FOR MY ENTRIES [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer] "ShellState"=hex:24,00,00,00,37,88,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 01,00,00,00,0d,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] "WebView"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] "ListviewAlphaSelect"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] "ListviewWatermark"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] "TaskbarAnimations"=dword:00000000 Note that the commented ones are probably valid just for my settings (which you can see from the first CODE window). I found these keys using RegShot and RegMon.