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In Windows 7, the Bubbles screen saver created bubbles that moved over the top of whatever was on my screen at the time.
In Windows 8, if I go to the screen saver settings and preview the Bubbles screensaver, it shows the same behavior – bubbles moving over the top of my existing desktop.
But when the Bubbles screensaver actually activates in Windows 8, the bubbles only appear over a background color which I selected.
Is there something wrong with my settings or video drivers?
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
There is nothing wrong with your screensaver settings, or your video drivers and system. .
A design change was made in Windows 8 that prevents screensavers from drawing over an image of the desktop. Any screensaver that previously drew over the desktop, such as Bubbles, will instead draw over a black background. The screensaver preview is incorrectly showing Windows 7 behavior.
That was already answered above by a Microsoft Forum Moderator
"A design change was made in Windows 8 that prevents screensavers from drawing over an image of the desktop. Any screensaver that previously drew over the desktop, such as Bubbles, will instead draw over a black background. The screensaver preview is incorrectly showing Windows 7 behavior."
Microsoft:
Preventing screensavers from drawing over an image of the desktop was a HORRIBLE developer decision.
Our fire department uses computer displays throughout our facility for displaying various types of information, including emergency response information like address and type of emergency. By using the bubbles screensaver in past versions of Windows, we could prevent screen burn-in on our flourescent and LED backlit LCDs yet still see the displayed information.
Now that our systems have been "updated" to Windows 8, we have lost this ability. We must now move a mouse at our control PC to see the displayed image or risk burn-in (we have experienced this problem with displays from different manufacturers, so don't try to claim new monitors do not have this problem).
Thanks for ruining our ability to see our information. What about including an option to choose what is displayed??????
ABSOLUTELY STUPID!
I made the change from windows 7 pro to windows 8 pro and miss the ability of my bubbles screensaver to use my desktop as the background.
I did some searching and saw that in windows 7 there were ways to go into the registry and create a DWORD to toggle the option on or off. I tried in windows 8 and it didn't work. Anyone know if there is another way to do this? Having a blue background for bubbles is really really annoying.
I have seen on Google that it can be modified by using the .hta file (html application) downloaded in a website. It is like modifying the old version of Windows Vista bubbles, but It is also working in Windows 8. I am searching also for a DWORD value in the registry but I did not found anything in Google.
Booo, why would MS take control of a feature away that's been in Windows for years in one form or another? The Science screensaver started featuring the desktop background back in... what, Windows 95? And now in 2013 you get around to deciding that users can't be trusted to decide what windows they might leave open when they walk away from their PCs?
Fine, let's compromise, and just run the bubbles over the wallpaper image specified by the user. Bubbles over a single colored background is an idiotic design decision, it looks terrible and takes features away from the user.
