Quick Tip For Old Computers: Use Wire Frames To Reduce Dragging Windows Lag [Ubuntu / Gnome]

If you have a really old computer running Ubuntu (w/ Gnome), here is a quick tip to reduce the dragging windows lag.

Gnome renders the window as it moves, which can slow performance down, but it has a built-in method to reduce the demand on system resources this causes.

Open a terminal and paste this:

gconftool-2 --type bool --set /apps/metacity/general/reduced_resources true

(image credits: http://www.tuxradar.com/)

Now when you click and drag windows you will see wire frames instead of the window contents, which drastically improves performance on under-powered systems.

This will only be visible on very low resources computers which do not use Compiz or an alternative window decorator (but it shouldn't be the case here, since if it's a really old computer, Compiz shouldn't be able to run anyway).