Due to an issue in the Windows 7 Aero theme , the map of the Age Of Empires (AOE) actually renders poorly. The playing area will be laid in patches and the small map in the bottom right won't show the correct player's color.

The fix for this issue is pretty simple.

• Start the AOE game.

• Get back to your desktop without closing the game,(by pressing the Windows Key (or) Show Desktop key).

• Start your task manager . Select the Processes tab. Look for process explorer.exe and kill it.

• This will hide your desktop icons, taskbar and all other opened windows.

• Using Alt +Tab get back to the Game. Now the map will be rendered nicely. Enjoy Playing :)

• After finishing the game , Start Task Manager again. Choose File -> New Task and type explorer.exe in the dialog box.

*Everything is back to normal.