Kicking Rounded Corners in Windows 11
Want your Windows 11 to look a bit sharper, with straight edges? It’s pretty easy, but like most tweaks in Windows, took a bit of hunting to find out how. Feels like Microsoft’s trying to keep these settings under wraps, eh?
Getting Into System Properties
Opening System Properties isn’t as simple as right-clicking anymore. Just right-click on ‘This PC’ on your desktop or in File Explorer, then select ‘Properties’. From there, click ‘Advanced system settings’ on the left. In a rush? Hit Win + R, type in SystemPropertiesAdvanced, and hit Enter. Much quicker.
Finding Performance Settings
Once inside, look for ‘Performance’ and click ‘Settings’. That opens the Performance Options window—where the magic happens. You can also jump straight there with the command line: SystemPropertiesPerformance. Feeling gutsy? You can even edit some registry settings at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize, but only if you’re confident with that sort of thing. Messing with the registry can be a bit risky, so be careful.
Choosing the ‘Best Performance’ Option
The quickest way to get rid of the rounded corners? Tick ‘Adjust for best performance’. This will turn off heaps of visual effects, including those rounded edges. If you want a bit more control, you can untick options like:
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons
- Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
- Fade or slide menus into view
- Show shadows under windows
- Show translucent selection rectangle
Fine-Tuning the Visuals
Don’t want to turn everything off? No worries. Pick and choose what to disable. Maybe keep the smooth scrolling but turn off the fancy animations. Use the Performance Options window or get into the registry if you’re feeling brave. Setting EnableTransparency to 0 will disable transparency effects.
Applying Your Changes
Once you’ve set your preferences, hit ‘Apply’ and then ‘OK’. Usually, the changes happen straight away, but sometimes you might need a restart—or even two—to see the full effect. Feeling impatient? You can refresh Explorer without a full reboot by running:
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe && start explorer.exe.
But for some effects, a restart’s still the best bet.
Heads up: It all seems pretty straightforward, but every system’s a bit different. Some tweaks might not stick, or you could end up with visual glitches if things go sideways. Take it slow, and if something doesn’t look right straight away, give it another shot—you’ll get there.
Changed your mind? No stress. Reverting is just as easy. Head back to Performance Settings and select ‘Let Windows choose what’s best’ or re-enable specific effects. Or, in PowerShell, you can reset transparency with:
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize" -Name "EnableTransparency" -Value 1.
Makes Windows your playground for tweaks!
And don’t stress—that won’t break your PC. These are purely visual modifications. Turning them off won’t cause data loss or system issues, even if it feels a bit risky. Just follow the steps, and you’ll be sporting sharp edges in no time.