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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."
I'm the developer of a screensaver that draws over the desktop, so I have looked into this since upgrading to Windows 8.
The problem is that the screensaver runs on its own separate desktop (the login screen is a separate desktop too), so it doesn't have access to the current user's desktop to copy the background or display a semi-transparent window over it. This isn't a case of adding some code to work around it either, because the screensaver desktop doesn't have permission to access the other desktops.
In my own screensaver, this means it can't display images over the desktop, it can't open an explorer window*, and changing the desktop background doesn't work properly either.
I'm sure it has been done for improved security, but it's still very annoying.
* It actually can open an explorer window - but it opens on the screensaver desktop, which is utterly useless.
I wish the plan background color wasn't there like in windows 7. I enjoyed the screen saver better when it wasn't there....................
Heheh - thanks, this is a wholly acceptable workaround. Does anyone even use the hideous metro interface anyway?
