Red Hat Knowledgebase

With standard GNOME or KDE settings the screen is constantly refreshed when windows are dragged around the screen. This causes a lot of graphics data to be sent over the network which can be problematic over a slow network connection. It can also cause problems where windows in the background are not properly redrawn. To fix these problems, GNOME or KDE can be configured for decreased graphical complexity by using wireframe dragging for windows. This will prevent screen refreshes until the window is released. The required settings are not global, so each user wanting to use reduced graphical complexity will need to perform this procedure. Here are the steps to follow to for GNOME or KDE:

GNOME
Open a terminal window and run the command gconf-editor. When the GConf editor window appears, open the apps folder, then the metacity folder and finally click on the general folder. Find the variable called reduced_resources and click the check box next to it. This will enable wireframe dragging and prevent screen updates until the window is released. Changes take effect immediately so after checking this box the GConf editor window may be closed.

KDE
Open a terminal window and run the command kcontrol. When the KDE Control Center window appears, click the "+" symbol next to the Desktop menu item to expand it. Then click the Window behavior menu item. Under the Moving tab, uncheck the options Display content in moving windows, Display content in resizing windows and Animate minimize and restore. Click Apply to apply changes and close the KDE Control Center.