1. You are viewing our forum as a guest. For full access please Register. WindowsBBS.com is completely free, paid for by advertisers and donations.

Screen preference woes

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by gus boy, 2008/05/24.

  1. 2008/05/24
    gus boy

    gus boy Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2007/01/20
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'm trying to latch in my screen preferences, to wit: "My Pictures" screensaver, a .JPG stretched to fill the desktop, and the Windows "Classic" style appearance, rather than the default Windows XP (just a personal preference, as I find the XP appearance a bit soft for my taste). Most of the setup is stable, but I find the machine reverting - and at an increasing rate of incidence - to the Win XP appearance rather than my selection, the Classic. My question is simply: am I missing a technique, or possibly a registry tweak, to lock in my preferred display properties? The display properties window works fine, all tabs respond, etc, but come another boot and the "Appearance" is back to that XP Start pillow. Any hints?
    BTW, my machine is fairly up-to-date: ESC PM800-M2, Pentium4 2.4Ghz, 80 G HDD just 1/2 full, WinXP Home w/SP2, cleaned up regularly inside and out - just recently dusted off the innards whilst upping the RAM to 1.5 G max; a recent renewal of Norton Internet Security which seems to be functioning without hiccups, and ZoneAlarm (free), ditto.No other significant changes to the system to suggest a cause for this glitch, especially when it was doing so well for the first 2 years.
    Just one other thing: I've searched this topic in the forum, and although I did find one reference similar to my problem, attempting to initiate the suggestions offered didn't seem to have any effect, so please excuse the possible bandwidth waste, but I'm really determined to find a solution to this problem.
    Any hints gratefully accepted.
    gus boy
     
  2. 2008/05/26
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

    Joined:
    2002/06/10
    Messages:
    8,198
    Likes Received:
    63
    I expect that the setting you are making is too hard for Windows to set (occasionally) and it reverts to the easier setting.

    I always look at the picture used as the background as being too hard for Windows to set. If I suspect that, I always edit the picture to a new one that is the dimensions of the resolution of the desktop (for example, 1024 X 768 pixels). If you say, take a portrait photo and stretch it into a landscape desktop background, I think you will be guaranteed to have problems.

    Try to think of any other settings that may be making it hard for Windows.

    I always like to find the reason for things not "sticking as they should ". Try the "Turn on Classic shell Group Policy" talked about here:
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922370/en-us

    Matt
     
    Last edited: 2008/05/26

  3. to hide this advert.

  4. 2008/05/27
    gus boy

    gus boy Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2007/01/20
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Matt:
    Thanks for the response to my query regarding Display properties. You've given me a whole new outlook on the subject of "What makes it difficult for Windows to operate ". I've dumbed down the whole display section, reverting to a blank background, blank screensaver, and an attempt once again to set up the 'Classic' display. Unfortunately the display still reverts to the XP appearance on reboot. I brought up the MS article referring to modifying the Classic Shell value in the Registry, but this entry does not exist in my machine at present, so I might have to do some meddling with it and see what happens.
    After further thought I also realized that the one major change made to this system in recent weeks (as previously mentioned) was filling up the memory to the max of 2gB - is there any possibility that this change could affect the stability of the system, or no? Anyway, I've found a few more ideas to apply to my dilemma, and will post further if anything changes.
    Thanks again
    gus boy
    aka Garth.
     
  5. 2008/05/27
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

    Joined:
    2002/06/10
    Messages:
    8,198
    Likes Received:
    63
    After checking, Group Policy can probably only be set in a business enviroment (I have only touched on it). Don't meddle if it is not straight forward. Group Policy can be set to restrict changes, but your system is probably not able to use it.

    If my theory is correct and Windows is having trouble running the settings, if you force it to use those settings it may fail completely. As I said, I will try to find a reason why Windows will not keep the settings it is asked to use, I don't force it to use settings it may not "like ".

    Matt
     
  6. 2008/05/29
    gus boy

    gus boy Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2007/01/20
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Matt:
    Just to keep this thread alive, in the event that someone else has experience with the problem, or the like: I went back to my original setup - screen saver, background .JPG, and Windows Classic theme, and the next few boots have been pretty evenly distributed between my choices, and the computer's. This is a very random act of computer disobedience, but there appears to be no other problem behavior, so I'll keep on researching the symptom. Thanks again for your inputs, and if anything concrete comes up, I'll be sure to share.
    Garth.
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.