How to Re-enable Aero Transparency in Windows 7

When running an older piece of software or game, transparency in Windows 7 will be disabled for compatibility reasons.  Normally after the program is closed, transparency will enable again and your windows will be pretty.  On occasion however, Windows will not restart Aero, the service that handles transparency.  You can manually restart Aero without rebooting.  To do this, open the "Start" menu and type cmd.  Now right on "cmd.exe" and choose "Run as Administrator."  Then type net stop uxsms, wait for the service to stop, then type  net start uxsms.  Now your windows should look "normal" again with transparency.  This fix should also work under Windows Vista.

Aero not working

Aero working again