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pulldown box is disabled on screen saver

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14 replies

by hoopester

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Where in the registry is the setting that would control the pulldown list box that is on the Screen Saver tab of the Display Properties settings. I've fixed the SCRNSAVE, ScreenSaveActive, ScreenSaverIsSecure, ScreenSaveTimeOut. The screen saver will activate based on the ScreenSaveTimeOut, and you can see the screen saver's name in the pulldown box--greyed out. I've looked through many tech notes related to the screen saver and can't find how to turn this back on.

14 replies

by allthegoodnamesweregone

go to start > run > gpedit.msc > user configuration > administrative templates > contorl panel > display. are any of the screen saver options configured? if they are, change them to not configured.

by hoopester

Although I can see it was a good place to look, this isn't where my problem is--I have no group policies set on my machine--not configured.

by hoopester

No, I have never set up any group policies on it. It is a home machine with just a couple User IDs for myself and my children--nothing fancy. We are all "administrators" on the machine because their Microsoft games won't run otherwise.

by hoopester

there were no group policies--everything was not configured (except the security stuff in the top section, which appeared to look normal--like my machine at work). Any more suggestions? Since I had some problems in my registry (some keys for screen saver were missing others values were off), I really suspect that the problem is in there somewhere. I ran into a variant of a Kazaa virus (or some name like that) that my Norton AV didn't stop from entering the system--it just warned me it was happening. I followed the instructions given--which included the repairs to the keys mentioned previously, and most everything is back to normal. It is just the pulldown box--which looked like a good idea in the policies manager, but was not the source.

by hal 9000

Sounds like one or more of the installed games has adversely affected the registry which could be a deliberate act on the part of the game writer so that the screen saved doesn't come on when playing a game. Something like if you pause the game and walk away for some length of time it will be the same when you return so you don't loose and part of the game by hitting a key and starting up the game again before you are ready.

The only suggestion is to download Iolo's System mechanic Trial Version 5 not the Pro version as it only has an extra AV program in it and run Reg Clean or Reg Scan that may do something but as I don't know what games are installed I can not be sure.

Try here for the 30 day trial version:-

http://www.iolo.com/sm/download.cfm

Col

by hoopester

I have not yet tried the System Mechanic program mentioned, but I have tried several others without success in curing this problem. I will give this next one a try. As for games, I only have a few loaded--like Microsoft's "Art of War", I have no newer games--the games loaded have been on my machine for 2+ yrs w/o ever having this problem, so I am comfortable thinking that the games are not the root cause. I do think it was the virus mentioned in my previous comments. Per the information on the website for "curing" my machine (Norton AV only warned, didn't stop it) the virus was supposed to affect my registry. I followed the cleanup instructions and have rechecked all keys several times to ensure I hadn't missed anything. I restored all that they told me to restore--to the settings as they should be. There must have been a key that was also modified by the virus, but not mentioned on the instruction sheet.

by sgt_shultz

...or maybe you are just missing the files for the screensaver. can you reinstall it? what sxreensaver is it anyway? every else work ok? can you get any screensaver to work?

by hoopester

I have all the screen saver programs provided by Microsoft Windows, and a couple others that I've had for a long time. I have already checked each them, they will ALL run fine. It is not the screen saver programs fault that my "desktop" settings will not allow me to change the screen saver. This is a problem somewhere in the registry related to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop and the other Desktops under HKEY_USERS.

by hoopester

My screen saver(s) work. If I change the name in the registry, I can run ANY of the screensaver programs loaded on my machine. The timeout works, Windows will engage whatever screen saver I have put in the SCRNSAVE key. You can even click the Test button and it will run the screensaver.

Again, my problem is the ability to use the pulldown selection box (which is "disabled" and I don't want it to be) when accessing the Display Properties on the desktop, on the Screen Saver Tab. Whatever screen saver program I have put in the registry shows up in this pulldown box, but it is greyed out--i.e. I can't change it from here, I have to go to the registry to change whatever screen saver program I want to use.

by allthegoodnamesweregone

i'm assuming the reg keys you have checked are all under HKCU\control panel\desktop?

if so, check HKCU\software\policies\microsoft\windows\control panel\desktop

ScreenSaveActive should be set to 1. if it's not there, create it. can't hurt anything.

by hoopester

Well your answer wasn't exactly right but led me to the proper place. There were only two keys under HKCU\software\policies\microsoft\windows\control panel\desktop\, one was the Screen Save Active, the other was SCRNSAVE.EXE, set to 1, and my screensaver's program name. I removed both of these keys, and now everything works normally again. It appears that when keys were in this area, they disabled the pulldown box, I got the idea when there were no other desktop items listed--besides the two above, as there were in the other location. I removed them thinking it was worth a gamble, I could always restore the registry copy I made. I've rebooted several times and have complete sucess. Thanks for leading me where I needed to go.

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