The new smooth blue or green wrapping on the Start menu, Task Bar, and on all of the windows are part of the new visual design for Windows XP. This feature can be turned off to speed up your computer, however this will revert all windows and menus back to the gray rectangular design of Windows 98 or 2000.

1. If the My Computer icon is on your desktop, right-click on it. Otherwise, go to the Start menu and right-click on My Computer.
2. Choose Properties.
3. Click on the Advanced tab.
4. In the Performance section near the top of the window, click on the Settings button.

   

5. Select Adjust for best performance. Click Apply. It may take your computer a few minutes to apply this change. In the meantime, your screen may fade from color to black and white, and a color message labeled Please Wait may appear.
6. Once the change has been applied, click OK.
7. Click OK once more to close out of the System Properties window.

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