Window glass in .NET

Answer 1

Actually you just extend the glass frame into the client area, which is trivial to do. And then you draw over it, with an alpha channel. The window in question here likely draws a partially transparent white over its main client area. Some more information can be found on MSDN: Aero Glass: Create Special Effects With The Desktop Window Manager.

The light around text should be just some glow added behind. Although Windows uses it in window captions as well, so there might be a function rendering that. I just couldn't find it.