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

2011-10-09T07:11:31+00:00

windows 7 color scheme change back to basic. To correct this issue with HP and welcome center click welcome center and personlize it will bring up

different back grounds click on windows 7
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Anonymous

2011-09-27T19:11:59+00:00

Sorry in advance if this isnt the same problem but my aero just stopped working -the cause microsofts own windows update it offered the usual monthly updates and an optional video driver which i stupidly installed it was after all from microsoft or via them and was for my system reading the details provided i run core i-5 4600 with 4gb ram and win 7 64 bit . anyway soon as it installed aero went bye bye not only that windows told me my chip set wasnt capable of running aero effects and that i should contact my dealer! so i restored system to last restore point and its back

this happened long time ago on my old laptop after exact same scenario .dont trust the updates for non microsoft products -also you can select to run windows on your pc in various modes -ie for best performance for least energy etc some of these dissable aero automatically and obviously can be reset to re enable aero if you need to

cheers woodgnome
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Anonymous

2011-09-03T08:41:51+00:00

Hi guys - Had this issue with a video capture program my son installed on his HP Laptop. We did a system restore to yesterday (the last point before he installed the capture program which caused the issues).

Everything is now back to normal.

Note - We had tried the advanced settings solution, but this had not worked - so hopefully above can help some folks who have the option to use a previous restore point.
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