One of the more annoying things I find in Windows 7 is the "Snap" feature, which automatically maximizes windows vertically or horizontally when I manually resize them a certain distance. Does anyone know how to shut that off?

I had to disable that too. Pretty annoying.

I don't remember now, but I think this is how to do it: http://malektips.com/windows-7-disable-window-dock-maximize.html

It only does that vertically, not horizontally. It shows you how and if it's going to resize or not as long as you hold your mouse button down. You can just drag slower at the top and it will leave it alone.

I personally can't live without snap. It's one of Window 7's best features.

Ouch. That's one of the things I hate about MS, they put in features like that without considering the utility and leave the user to figure out how to turn them off. It still annoys me to no end that I have to either roll my own install or tell it manually not to waste all my processing power on aesthetics.

Personally, I prefer the way that some of the X window managers handle it. They don't snap to anything unless they're next to something else, and then it's over a small defined distance.

Snap is amazing. Best feature of Windows 7.

But you see, a lot of users find that useful and it's been introduced based on usage metrics and feedback from the closed alpha (MSDN release) and the open beta; you also have an easy way to disable it. Heck, you just need to type snap in the start menu and that's the first option it returns :)

As for the processing power wasted on "aesthetics", it's not that much as you think. If you have a regular graphics card then it's on the same level as Windows XP, which also used hardware acceleration on graphical elements.

I like the part of Snap that automatically places windows on the edge of my my screen while I'm just moving the windows. It's the auto-resizing that bugs me. See, when I resize the window vertically, and Snap auto-maximizes it, if I were to then double click on the title bar, the window would resize back to the size it was before Snap auto-maximized it vertically, instead of just maximizing the window completely. I then have to spend extra time manually resizing the window.

WinKey + down arrow = window to initial size (not maximized)
WinKey + up arrow = maximize window

Hm. i actually like the snap feature. have 2 monitors hooked and i'm a bit finicky on where the windows appear.
And yeah, win7 use less power than what one would expect. (At least less than vista)
In any case, if the hogging part is turned off by itself when i start a game, its fine by me.

I disagree; I hate snap. I have two screens so it kind of doesn't work on the edge where my two screens meet. And I have enough screen space that I don't need to fullscreen stuff.

Fortunately I put my start bar on the top of the screen so that helps keep me from accidentally full screening windows.

Agree. Well, not exactly the best, but a great one. :)

SmartBar is the best feature :) but your right snap is a nice feature.