Bubbles screensaver has black background

Anonymous

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.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

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.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

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."

0 comments

107 additional answers

Anonymous

2016-05-11T11:38:36+00:00

Hello, I did as you said to get the bubbles to be transparent and I got it working. Though I have one problem. That is after about 10 minutes of it running the bubbles crash or restart? some times they go rather fast or just stop and then freeze and some bubbles might disappear or they all stay and then its they stop and its like the screensaver started again on top of the frozen bubbles. I'd like this to stop if possible. Any suggestions?

had same issue, added custom program that change scr setting after custom start; (maybe exists simple way with cmd or vbs but don't have time to look up it);

'some times they go rather fast' - maybe MS bug still appears sometimes when app run too long;

namespace runbubbles

{

    static class Program

    {

        [DllImport("user32.dll")]

        public static extern bool LockWorkStation();

        // Signatures for unmanaged calls

        [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]

        private static extern bool SystemParametersInfo(

           int uAction, int uParam, ref int lpvParam,

           int flags);

        [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]

        private static extern bool SystemParametersInfo(

           int uAction, int uParam, ref bool lpvParam,

           int flags);

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]

        public static extern EXECUTION_STATE SetThreadExecutionState(EXECUTION_STATE esFlags);

        // Constants

        private const int SPI_GETSCREENSAVERACTIVE = 16;

        private const int SPI_SETSCREENSAVERACTIVE = 17;

        private const int SPI_GETSCREENSAVERTIMEOUT = 14;

        private const int SPI_SETSCREENSAVERTIMEOUT = 15;

        private const int SPI_GETSCREENSAVERRUNNING = 114;

        private const int SPIF_SENDWININICHANGE = 2;

        private const uint DESKTOP_WRITEOBJECTS = 0x0080;

        private const uint DESKTOP_READOBJECTS = 0x0001;

        private const int WM_CLOSE = 16;

        [FlagsAttribute]

        public enum EXECUTION_STATE : uint

        {

            ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED = 0x00000001,

            ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED = 0x00000002,

            // Legacy flag, should not be used.

            // ES_USER_PRESENT   = 0x00000004,

            ES_AWAYMODE_REQUIRED = 0x00000040,

            ES_CONTINUOUS = 0x80000000,

        }

        public static void SetScreenSaverActive(int active)

        {

            if (active == 0)

                SetThreadExecutionState(EXECUTION_STATE.ES_CONTINUOUS | EXECUTION_STATE.ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED | EXECUTION_STATE.ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED);

            else

                SetThreadExecutionState(EXECUTION_STATE.ES_CONTINUOUS);

        }

        /// <summary>

        /// The main entry point for the application.

        /// </summary>

        [STAThread]

        //[PrincipalPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, Role = @"BUILTIN\Administrators")]

        static void Main()

        {

            SetScreenSaverActive(0);

            ProcessStartInfo starter = new ProcessStartInfo("Bubbles.scr");

            starter.Arguments = "/s";

            starter.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;

            starter.CreateNoWindow = true;

            starter.RedirectStandardOutput = false;

            starter.UseShellExecute = false;

            Process process = new Process();

            process.StartInfo = starter;

            process.Start();

            process.WaitForExit();

            SetScreenSaverActive(1);

            LockWorkStation();

            Application.Exit();

        }

   }

}
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2016-05-10T01:07:55+00:00

Jimmy, it was your good-self who was assisting me wasn't it?

It is just you've changed your icon.

Anyway, I had disc drive crash recently, so sorry for the late return, and will get to your replies at some point, just Yogi Bear with me please?

Thanks again for the assistance.I am really interested in getting WMP working correctly, and I am getting there, and equally will do with your replies. Again I do have an awful lot on at present.

Cheers friend... Sean Sebastian White
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2016-05-10T00:52:04+00:00

It is ridiculous this Michael...

I don't know if you work for Microsoft, but if you do... what were they thinking of?
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments