Windows' screen-saver aggravation

This one is fairly trivial, but aggravating: I've selected a blank screen for the Win98SE screen-saver. So here are the screen-saves that I get, seemingly at random:

1) All black (the correct one)
2) Cursor only
3) Tollbar only
4) Toolbar + a "Screen Saver" tab in the toolbar
5) No screen-save at all: what's on-screen stays on-screen.

What is so exasperating is the INCONSISTENCY! This is DIGITAL, so it should do the same thing every time!! When pigs fly?

Anyone know why this is & how to correct it?

 

Ken,
Have I got this right ?
You right click an unused area of the desktop, choose
"Properties" and in the screensaver Tab, choose "None ".
What do you mean by "Toolbar" ?
Your mouse is still active with the "None" in screensaver settings
so you would see the mouse cursor on the screen.
regards

 

Do you by any chance play some sort of game on an irregular basis?

I have one game that, like most of them, changes the screen resolution and overrides the screen save but when shut down, doesn't completely let go. The screen resolution returns to normal but I get the same symptoms you get with the screen saver.

The only way to fix things is either to reset the screen saver or reboot the machine. I used option #3, I uninstalled that game.

 

Ans. to queries: Yes, I chose "None" in the usual way. By "toolbar" I meant the strip along the bottom of the screen containing the "Start" button, etc. Wrong word, perhaps...

The cursor displayed was the mouse cursor, naturally. And of course, as soon as I moved the mouse the screen came back on.

As I noted, the proper screen-save image is none at all: a blank screen. That's what usually happens; but, seemingly randomly, the other modes occur. In every case, moving the mouse brings up the proper screen image, as expected.

I play no games at all; never have.

Ken

 

Re system tray at the bottom of the screen.
If you right click on empty area on it - is is set to auto hide ?
regards

 

Merlin: Always on top, yes; Auto Hide, no.

KCH

 

Just a reach here, right click on the Desktop, go to Active Desktop, unselect View as Webpage, if enabled.

 

If you do not want the tray at the bottom when the screen saver
activates, use autohide.
regards