Screen Saver resets itself to "none" without my permission

Often during a computing session I go away for a while and return to
find that the screen saver never kicked in, and my laptop monitor
didn't shut itself off as it's programmed to do in "energy saving
options". The result of this is that I'm shortening my monitor's life
(I imagine that backlight doesn't last forever).

I then go into Control Panel and find that Windows has reset my Screen
Saver options to "None."

This happens a lot. After I run certain programs, like Quintessential
Player, for example, it ALWAYS happens.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.

wrote in news:1126513327.236918.67950
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

Often during a computing session I go away for a while and return to
find that the screen saver never kicked in, and my laptop monitor
didn't shut itself off as it's programmed to do in "energy saving
options". The result of this is that I'm shortening my monitor's life
(I imagine that backlight doesn't last forever).

I then go into Control Panel and find that Windows has reset my Screen
Saver options to "None."

This happens a lot. After I run certain programs, like Quintessential
Player, for example, it ALWAYS happens.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.



As far as I know there's no way to prevent a program in W98 to change the
screensaver. There is a workaround, you can put your settings back every
reboot. Use regedit to export the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Open this .reg file in notepad, and remove every value which is not
screensaver related. When you doubleclick on this file the screensaver
settings should be restored.
Now you can add a shortcut to the startup folder:
regedit /S "yourfile.reg"

Sorry, I should have mentioned I'm using Win 98 SE

Ingeborg wrote:

As far as I know there's no way to prevent a program in W98 to change the
screensaver. There is a workaround, you can put your settings back every
reboot. Use regedit to export the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Open this .reg file in notepad, and remove every value which is not
screensaver related. When you doubleclick on this file the screensaver
settings should be restored.
Now you can add a shortcut to the startup folder:
regedit /S "yourfile.reg"

Ingeborg,

I don't think any of my programs are changing the screen saver. I think
this is some bug in Win 98 where it resets the screensaver without
asking. Am I the only person this happens to?

Is this solution you proposed risky? I guess I'm not actually editing
the registry, just exporting?

If that will make it easier to restore my screensaver (just by double
clicking) it would be worth doing. I can restore it now by just going
into control panel and setting it back to my settings. But it's a pain.

The Previous Screen Saver Is Still Used After You Change It
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;193794

Buddylist Trojan Horse Virus: Screensaver Is Always Set to "Blank"
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;293149
SYMPTOMS:
After you select any screensaver and then restart the computer, the screensaver
selection may be unexpectedly changed to Blank.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375




wrote in message
ups.com...
Often during a computing session I go away for a while and return to
find that the screen saver never kicked in, and my laptop monitor
didn't shut itself off as it's programmed to do in "energy saving
options". The result of this is that I'm shortening my monitor's life
(I imagine that backlight doesn't last forever).

I then go into Control Panel and find that Windows has reset my Screen
Saver options to "None."

This happens a lot. After I run certain programs, like Quintessential
Player, for example, it ALWAYS happens.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.

What is "/S"..?..

Imports and exports registry files to and from the registry.

REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] filename1
REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /C filename2
REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /E filename3 [regpath1]
REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /D regpath2

/L:system Specifies the location of the SYSTEM.DAT file.
/R:user Specifies the location of the USER.DAT file.
filename1 Specifies the file(s) to import into the registry.
/C filename2 Specifies the file to create the registry from.
/E filename3 Specifies the file to export the registry to.
regpath1 Specifies the starting registry key to export from.
(Defaults to exporting the entire registry).
/D regpath2 Specifies the registry key to delete.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Ingeborg" wrote in message
...
| wrote in news:1126513327.236918.67950
| @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
|
| Often during a computing session I go away for a while and return to
| find that the screen saver never kicked in, and my laptop monitor
| didn't shut itself off as it's programmed to do in "energy saving
| options". The result of this is that I'm shortening my monitor's
life
| (I imagine that backlight doesn't last forever).
|
| I then go into Control Panel and find that Windows has reset my
Screen
| Saver options to "None."
|
| This happens a lot. After I run certain programs, like
Quintessential
| Player, for example, it ALWAYS happens.
|
| Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.
|
|
|
| As far as I know there's no way to prevent a program in W98 to change
the
| screensaver. There is a workaround, you can put your settings back
every
| reboot. Use regedit to export the key
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
| Open this .reg file in notepad, and remove every value which is not
| screensaver related. When you doubleclick on this file the screensaver
| settings should be restored.
| Now you can add a shortcut to the startup folder:
| regedit /S "yourfile.reg"

Brian A. wrote:
The Previous Screen Saver Is Still Used After You Change It
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;193794

Buddylist Trojan Horse Virus: Screensaver Is Always Set to "Blank"
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;293149
SYMPTOMS:
After you select any screensaver and then restart the computer, the screensaver
selection may be unexpectedly changed to Blank.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Brian,

Thanks, but the advice in those two links doesn't apply to my
situation. The first link says uncheck read only on the system.ini
file, but on my system.ini file it's not checked.

The second link blames it on a virus, but I don't seem to have that
virus. Also it says the problem occurs on restart, and my problem
occurs immediately, without restarting.

Any other ideas?

wrote in
oups.com:


Ingeborg wrote:

As far as I know there's no way to prevent a program in W98 to change
the screensaver. There is a workaround, you can put your settings
back every reboot. Use regedit to export the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Open this .reg file in notepad, and remove every value which is not
screensaver related. When you doubleclick on this file the
screensaver settings should be restored.
Now you can add a shortcut to the startup folder:
regedit /S "yourfile.reg"

Ingeborg,

I don't think any of my programs are changing the screen saver. I
think this is some bug in Win 98 where it resets the screensaver
without asking. Am I the only person this happens to?

I can imagine that some programs really do. I don't know what
Quintessential player is, but I suppose some media player. In that case
it would be annoying when the screensaver comes in when you are watching
a movie. So maybe it turns off the screensaver by changing the registry.


Is this solution you proposed risky? I guess I'm not actually editing
the registry, just exporting?

The solution consist of 2 steps, 1 export, 2 restore. The second step
actually changes the registry, but only to a value it had before. I
wouldn't call it risky.


If that will make it easier to restore my screensaver (just by double
clicking) it would be worth doing. I can restore it now by just going
into control panel and setting it back to my settings. But it's a
pain.

"PCR" wrote in news:uEVOuy9tFHA.3256
@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl:

What is "/S"..?..

Imports and exports registry files to and from the registry.

REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] filename1
REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /C filename2
REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /E filename3 [regpath1]
REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /D regpath2

/L:system Specifies the location of the SYSTEM.DAT file.
/R:user Specifies the location of the USER.DAT file.
filename1 Specifies the file(s) to import into the registry.
/C filename2 Specifies the file to create the registry from.
/E filename3 Specifies the file to export the registry to.
regpath1 Specifies the starting registry key to export from.
(Defaults to exporting the entire registry).
/D regpath2 Specifies the registry key to delete.



Silent.

That makes sense. Silent & secret. But what was so noisy about it in the
first place? Never mind. OK, thanks.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Ingeborg" wrote in message
...
| "PCR" wrote in news:uEVOuy9tFHA.3256
| @TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl:
|
| What is "/S"..?..
|
| Imports and exports registry files to and from the registry.
|
| REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] filename1
| REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /C filename2
| REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /E filename3 [regpath1]
| REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /D regpath2
|
| /L:system Specifies the location of the SYSTEM.DAT file.
| /R:user Specifies the location of the USER.DAT file.
| filename1 Specifies the file(s) to import into the registry.
| /C filename2 Specifies the file to create the registry from.
| /E filename3 Specifies the file to export the registry to.
| regpath1 Specifies the starting registry key to export
from.
| (Defaults to exporting the entire registry).
| /D regpath2 Specifies the registry key to delete.
|
|
|
| Silent.