From: http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2014/03/05/windows-8-1-tips-manage-wireless-network-profiles.aspx

  Netsh.exe
  wlan
  show interface
  show profile
  set profileorder name=slcwirelessstu2 interface="Wi-Fi" priority=1
  And finally, if you wanted to change the preferred order for your machine to connect to specific 
  wireless network, you could move a network up in the priority list by using the command: set 
  profileorder name=goose interface="Wi-Fi" priority=1
  

From: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5657-visual-effects-adjust-windows-8-a.html

The visual effect settings below are the most common ones to turn off (uncheck) to help improve performance.

Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
Animations in the taskbar
Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide ToolTips into view
Fade out menu items after clicking
Show shadows under windows
Slide open combo boxes

If you like, you can click/tap on a link below for these Visual Effects to see how to quickly change them 
in the Registry Editor instead.
Animate controls and elements inside windows
Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
Animations in the taskbar
Enable Peek
Save taskbar thumbnail previews
Show thumbnails instead of icons
Show translucent slection rectangle
Show window contents while dragging
Smooth edges of screen fonts
Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop

http://www.terryscomputertips.com/computers/speeding-up-windows-xp-fine-tuning-visual-effects/

Speeding Up Windows XP – Fine-Tuning Visual Effects By Terry Stockdale

http://www.pcwintech.com/increase-windows-performance-changing-visual-effects-xp-vista

Increase Windows Performance By Changing Visual Effects (XP, Vista & 7)

For some, including myself, don't care about how pretty things are in Windows. And a lot of times the visual effects aren't even noticeable in the first place.