Screen Saver Question

Can you set the screen saver bubbles to draw over current background?, now when it comes on it has a solid background color?If you preview it shows over current background which is a picture.

Z

Some screensaver settings are hidden. To change them you either modify Registry keys, or use that tool from Winaero. It can tweak all standard Windows screensavers. I use another screensaver so I don't care, but I downloaded it so my tweak tools collection is complete. The same programmer has other interesting utilities in his site. Have a look.

Thanks spapakons
Could not get this to work in windows10? Nice tool but I can't get it to show desktop background with bubbles screensaver.

Haven't tried it myself, but maybe you didn't adjust the relevant settings properly. Have a second look. Experiment with the settings to see how they affect the screensaver. Don't forget to save your changes.

Can't be done in Windows 10

• Sergey, is there an update for Windows 10? The bubbles screensaver shows a solid dark background. I want to see my desktop like in Windows 7. There was a fix where you can adjust the settings in the registry by creating Dword entries in Bubbles to adjust the size, speed etc. - they still work in Windows 10 except for the ShowBubbles parameter where setting it as 1 instead of 0 still does not show the desktop.
  
• Sergey11 Aug 15
  Microsoft removed this ability.
  I cannot help to return it.
  
• Dave Johnson20 Aug 15
  If you create a bat file with this -- @start /wait Bubbles.scr /s & rundll32 user32.dll -- in it, then create a shorcut setting it to run minimized you can start the screensaver with your desktop as the background. It will not happen automaitcally, you must do it yourself.

Well, I decided to launch the Bubbles screensaver in my Windows 10 Pro 32-bit setup and test it. This photo shows that all bubbles are transparent and I can also see the desktop or whatever windows I left open:



This is in a VMWare virtual machine with all drivers installed. I didn't even run the screensaver tweak utility, this is with the default settings. I don't think version (Windows 10 Home or Pro) has an effect on the screensaver behavior, it should be the same. So you may have not installed the graphics drivers. Download latest driver from Intel, nVidia or AMD (depending on your graphics system) and install it. Windows installed driver (Microsoft) doesn't support all features. After updating your graphics driver you should be able to see the screensaver properly.

PS: In case you wonder about the system icons, I replaced the default Windows 10 icons with those from Windows 8.1 using Customizer God (read my other posts in Customization section)

If I may: I don't worry about the screensaver because it has not been needed in a number of years. It originally was intended for use with the Interlaced CRT/Cathode Ray Tube monitors which would burn the phosphorus coating on the inside of the tube, over time it could get so bad as to make characters illegible. The introduction of the Non-interlaced monitors helped tremendously as the screen was being continuously refreshed/redrawn preventing that burning. The LCD and LED Flat Panel monitors don't have that problem.

As for the non-interlaced monitors, used to be one could sometimes see a monitor behind newscasters that would have a dark gray bar moving up and/or down the screen, that was the refreshing. The lines were caused by the interaction with the TV camera just like the old Westerns with wagon and stagecoach wheels seeming turning backwards, a sync issue with the cameras.

With you on this Berton,its not that I need it . Just trying to make it work in 10 like it did in 7,but I can and will live without it. Not sure if spapakons

did this in preview or did he let the screen saver come on my it's self after a couple minutes.

I did it in preview but it should be the same. Preview button just displays the screensaver immediately with current settings and you don't have to wait until time has come. It wouldn't make any difference if I waited for it to start automatically. As I said before, check your graphics drivers. Maybe Windows weren't able to automatically install the appropriate graphics drivers and set it to Microsoft Basic Display Adapter. This is for very basic display and has zero hardware acceleration. This would explain why you only see the simple version of the screensaver (no desktop, solid bubbles) and you cannot see the transparent bubbles and your desktop. So first find and update your graphics drivers. Then check to see if the screensaver works as it should.

In preview spapakons my computer does the same as yours,but set the screen saver for 1 minute and see what happens.