Tell you friend (just to mess with him) that it's impossible and he'll have to live with it.  Then laugh.

If he doesn't like the AERO features he can go to WINDOWS BASIC by right clicking on the desktop, then click PERSONALIZE, then click WINDOWS COLOR AND APPEARANCE, then click open classic appearance and the select BASIC or another theme.  Click ok, or apply and then ok.

This should stop the glassy looking window panes, the fading in and out of windows. 

Then you can tell him that you figured it out all by yourself and he'll think your a genius....might as well have a little fun....:smileyhappy:

If you are talking about the fade-in and fade-out of windows when minimizing, maximizing and restoring, and the similar fade-out effect when closing a window, this "windows animation" can be disabled as follows:

Control Panel > Performance Information and Tools > click "Adjust visual effects" on the left > click the "Custom:" radio button > disable the second option "Animate windows while minimizing and maximizing"

http://thevistaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=18739

There are numerous other effects that can be enabled/disabled via "Adjust visual effects."