It is apparently not a big problem to enable the Vista Aero interface in Windows Vista Home Basic even though it is officially not included in that version. All you need to do is to change the values of two registry keys and restart Windows Vista afterwards. Open the registry by pressing Windows + R, typing regedit and hitting enter afterwards.

Navigate to the key Hkey_Current_User \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ DWM \ and change the value of the entry Composition to 1 and the value of CompositionPolicy to 0.

Now you can select the Aero interface by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Personalize from the menu. Switch to Colors and Appearance and click on Classic Appearance Properties.. and choose Windows Vista Aero from the menu.

Update: Microsoft has continued the naming confusion with the release of Vista’s successor, Windows 7. Windows 7 did ship with a professional edition that replaced Vista’s business edition. The breakdown in Home Basic and Home Premium has not been changed though, and Windows 7 Home Basic users face the same restrictions that Windows Vista owners faced when the operating system comes out.