Windows 7 automatically switching to basic (non-aero) theme. I need a way to disable that behaviour.

Anonymous

This is very similar to what is described here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939423

As well as here: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistaperformance/thread/c7b869e1-5138-48a3-b09d-419f76e2f728

However, this is for Windows 7, not Vista.

Scenario:

On a 3 screen (1920x1080 each) setup ran on an ATI HD4890 (1gb RAM, running 2 screens) + HD 3450 (256mb RAM, running 1 screen), whenever anything graphic intensive is put onto the screen hosted by the HD3450, Windows will complain "The color scheme has been changed to Windows Basic - The current color scheme has exceeded its allowed memory so the color scheme has been automatically changed to improve performance. Click to see more information." and change my theme to Windows Basic.

However, it is to be noted that the 3450 is not being stressed at all (all the load is being put onto the 4890 according to GPU-Z).

It should not be a problem with system RAM (6gb, on Win7 x64) nor processing power (i7 920).

Is there a way to disable Windows automatically "improving performance" by switching my theme?

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Anonymous

Run menu > sysdm.cpl > Advanced Tab > performance > select adjust for best performance > make sure you do not allow Windows to choose for you because your computer does not know whats best --- Make sure Enable Aero Peek is checked

---- OR ---

Right click my computer > properties > Advanced System settings > performance > select adjust for best performance > make sure you do not allow Windows to choose for you because your computer does not know whats best --- Make sure Enable Aero Peek is checked

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Anonymous

Hi whsper,

Welcome to Microsoft Answers Community Forums.

The aero theme is basically enabled depending on video card.

Windows Display Driver Modelis the graphic driver architecture for video card drivers running Microsoft Windows versions beginning with Windows Vista.

WDDM driver model version 1.0 is that it does not support multiple drivers in a multi-adapter, multi-monitor setup, the latest version is 2.0 is introduced.

Windows will disable the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) that controls the transparent glass effect or other effects of the Aero theme. The DWM manages the desktop and the primary display settings in Windows.

I would suggest you to check with your manufacturer for latest drivers to support your hardware configuration.

Hope this information helped you.

Regards

Yaaser - Microsoft Support Engineer

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138 additional answers

Anonymous

2011-05-21T23:14:20+00:00

I have disabled aero, and started using Winstep Extreme, it has the aeropeek effect with its taskbar, even if the theme is set to basic.

and yes it is when an FF4 is opened. The problem is that I WORK ON THE COMPUTER !!!!!!

so it is very annoying.

My videocard is a very good one, with 2Gb memory, so it is not the reason behind it, or if it is then something is very messed up with win7.
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Anonymous

2011-05-09T18:53:44+00:00

Well for the time being I disabled hardware/GPU Acceleration in IE9 and FF4 to see if that helps with the issue. The latest drivers from ATI are no help and I can only get this to happen when using IE9 or FF4 on one of my other monitors. It is very annoying and so far I have no leads on a fix.
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Anonymous

2011-04-21T16:45:33+00:00

I think this may have fixed it. So far so good.

This is my set up at work just for reference

Dell Optiplex 980

Core i7 860

8GB Ram

Two Radeon 4550 w/512MB each(was the best Dell offered on that model)

3 LCD monitors with 1 Rotated

Win7 x64

Only seems to happen when using Internet Explorer 9 or Firefox 4 on one of the other monitors.

I have the latest ATI Drivers (Catalyst 11.3) and other driver updates and EFI/BIOS updates.

I have not installed SP1 for Windows 7 X64 but I am not sure that would do anything to solve the issue.

I can run other programs like my XP Virtual Machine and Instant Message windows and even MS Office Applications and it does not cause the issue. I have even played videos using a TV-Tuner and through Media Player without an issue. This problem only seemed to happen when I upgraded to Firefox 4 and used that and I recently upgraded to IE9 and it happens in there displaying only regular web pages too. It is very frustrating.

If it reoccurs I will be back.

UPDATE: Well I still get the "Windows has detected performance is slow" bubble pop ups but the computer has not disabled aero like it was doing before.

Still does not explain why that is happening at all though. Every one that I have read that has this problem has plenty of Processor/GPU power and Ram to accommodate multiple displays. Seems the only common variable is having dual video cards.
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