How To Get Some Real Estate Back on Vista

I got this tip from my co-worker  who is the company guinea pig for our Vista deployment.  Ever feel like you don’t have as much real estate with Vista?  It’s partly because the window borders (a/k/a chrome) are obnoxiously think by default when you’re running the Aero interface. Try this tip.  Open the Personalization Screen by right-clicking the desktop and choosing “Personalize”:

Click on Window Colors and Appearance: 

On this window, you can tweak colors and transparency (he says he hates the transparency and turns it off, I don’t mind it), but we’re going deeper.  Click on the “Open classic appearance properties for more color options” link:

We’re still heading deeper, click “Advanced…”

We’ve arrived!  Under the item drop down, select “Border Padding” and set the size down from 4 to 1.  I also shrank my title bar and menus down from 19 to 17.  Keep in mind, you’re not changing the font size, so don’t think you’re going to be squinting. Were just putting some of the chrome on a diet.

Ok yourself out of the dialog box hell and you’re done.  Windows feel a bit more trim under this setting and I definitely feel like I’ve got more usable screen real estate.  Give it a shot and tell me what you think