Vista Tutorial - Visual Effects Have Disappeared

I used to have the glass effect (among others) on my computer. Until
yesterday that is. For the umpteenth time, my screen flickered from 1024 x
768 with the glass effect to 640 x 480 without the glass effect. Normally as
soon as I jiggle the mouse, it jumps back to the former settings. (Don't ask
me what causes it to flicker, I don't know). This time however, it did
revert to 1024 x 768, but the glass effects are gone. When I press Alt +
Tab, I no longer can see previews of the windows, just their icons. When I
hover my mouse over programs in the taskbar, I can't see their previews
either; I can only see the tooltip appear with the name of the program. One
other thing, the controls in the top right corner of the window changed.
They normally (with the glass effect) are more rounded and connected to the
edges of the window. Now they are only in rectangles similar, but thinner
than those in XP.

I've looked through the Control Panel in an effort to restore all these
things that have so suddenly disappeared. The best option I could find was
the Personalization tool. When I select Visual Appearance, the only scheme
that has to do with Vista would be the Windows Vista Basic scheme, but it
doesn't have the glass effect there. There's nothing related under the
Effects button or the Advanced button to restore any of these effects either.
I was unable to find anything related under the Display Settings as well.

If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it very much. Thank you.

Telling us what video card, what drivers you have installed, what you did to
enable aero in the first place mght help....


"wgw4" <wgw4@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9CAAE8CA-B84C-4E30-8821-425BE99818B8@microsoft.com...
>
> I used to have the glass effect (among others) on my computer. Until
> yesterday that is. For the umpteenth time, my screen flickered from 1024
> x
> 768 with the glass effect to 640 x 480 without the glass effect. Normally
> as
> soon as I jiggle the mouse, it jumps back to the former settings. (Don't
> ask
> me what causes it to flicker, I don't know). This time however, it did
> revert to 1024 x 768, but the glass effects are gone. When I press Alt +
> Tab, I no longer can see previews of the windows, just their icons. When
> I
> hover my mouse over programs in the taskbar, I can't see their previews
> either; I can only see the tooltip appear with the name of the program.
> One
> other thing, the controls in the top right corner of the window changed.
> They normally (with the glass effect) are more rounded and connected to
> the
> edges of the window. Now they are only in rectangles similar, but thinner
> than those in XP.
>
> I've looked through the Control Panel in an effort to restore all these
> things that have so suddenly disappeared. The best option I could find
> was
> the Personalization tool. When I select Visual Appearance, the only
> scheme
> that has to do with Vista would be the Windows Vista Basic scheme, but it
> doesn't have the glass effect there. There's nothing related under the
> Effects button or the Advanced button to restore any of these effects
> either.
> I was unable to find anything related under the Display Settings as well.
>
> If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it very much. Thank you.

Aero was enabled from the second Vista was installed. I didn't have to do
anything to set it up or anything. As for my video card, I have a Radeon
Xpress 200M. I have whatever the latest driver is for it. More information
about the card than that, I may not be able to provide without instructions
on how to do so. Thank you.

"Zapper" wrote:

> Telling us what video card, what drivers you have installed, what you did to
> enable aero in the first place mght help....
>
>
> "wgw4" <wgw4@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:9CAAE8CA-B84C-4E30-8821-425BE99818B8@microsoft.com...
> >
> > I used to have the glass effect (among others) on my computer. Until
> > yesterday that is. For the umpteenth time, my screen flickered from 1024
> > x
> > 768 with the glass effect to 640 x 480 without the glass effect. Normally
> > as
> > soon as I jiggle the mouse, it jumps back to the former settings. (Don't
> > ask
> > me what causes it to flicker, I don't know). This time however, it did
> > revert to 1024 x 768, but the glass effects are gone. When I press Alt +
> > Tab, I no longer can see previews of the windows, just their icons. When
> > I
> > hover my mouse over programs in the taskbar, I can't see their previews
> > either; I can only see the tooltip appear with the name of the program.
> > One
> > other thing, the controls in the top right corner of the window changed.
> > They normally (with the glass effect) are more rounded and connected to
> > the
> > edges of the window. Now they are only in rectangles similar, but thinner
> > than those in XP.
> >
> > I've looked through the Control Panel in an effort to restore all these
> > things that have so suddenly disappeared. The best option I could find
> > was
> > the Personalization tool. When I select Visual Appearance, the only
> > scheme
> > that has to do with Vista would be the Windows Vista Basic scheme, but it
> > doesn't have the glass effect there. There's nothing related under the
> > Effects button or the Advanced button to restore any of these effects
> > either.
> > I was unable to find anything related under the Display Settings as well.
> >
> > If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it very much. Thank you.
>

try system restore

"wgw4" wrote:

> Aero was enabled from the second Vista was installed. I didn't have to do
> anything to set it up or anything. As for my video card, I have a Radeon
> Xpress 200M. I have whatever the latest driver is for it. More information
> about the card than that, I may not be able to provide without instructions
> on how to do so. Thank you.
>
> "Zapper" wrote:
>
> > Telling us what video card, what drivers you have installed, what you did to
> > enable aero in the first place mght help....
> >
> >
> > "wgw4" <wgw4@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:9CAAE8CA-B84C-4E30-8821-425BE99818B8@microsoft.com...
> > >
> > > I used to have the glass effect (among others) on my computer. Until
> > > yesterday that is. For the umpteenth time, my screen flickered from 1024
> > > x
> > > 768 with the glass effect to 640 x 480 without the glass effect. Normally
> > > as
> > > soon as I jiggle the mouse, it jumps back to the former settings. (Don't
> > > ask
> > > me what causes it to flicker, I don't know). This time however, it did
> > > revert to 1024 x 768, but the glass effects are gone. When I press Alt +
> > > Tab, I no longer can see previews of the windows, just their icons. When
> > > I
> > > hover my mouse over programs in the taskbar, I can't see their previews
> > > either; I can only see the tooltip appear with the name of the program.
> > > One
> > > other thing, the controls in the top right corner of the window changed.
> > > They normally (with the glass effect) are more rounded and connected to
> > > the
> > > edges of the window. Now they are only in rectangles similar, but thinner
> > > than those in XP.
> > >
> > > I've looked through the Control Panel in an effort to restore all these
> > > things that have so suddenly disappeared. The best option I could find
> > > was
> > > the Personalization tool. When I select Visual Appearance, the only
> > > scheme
> > > that has to do with Vista would be the Windows Vista Basic scheme, but it
> > > doesn't have the glass effect there. There's nothing related under the
> > > Effects button or the Advanced button to restore any of these effects
> > > either.
> > > I was unable to find anything related under the Display Settings as well.
> > >
> > > If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it very much. Thank you.
> >

Sounds like your video card driver is unstable.

If you are using the video card driver that came in the box (so to speak)
with Vista, try upgrading to the latest video card driver available for
Vista from your manufacturer.

If you are using a video card driver from your manufacturer, try rolling
back to the default Vista video card driver.

Once you've done that, try running a system performance test again - this
should kick-start desktop composition. You can do this from Control Panel ->
System and Maintenance -> Check your performance rating (under System), and
then click Refresh my rating now.

- JB

I went to the ATI website and downloaded the latest Vista Beta 2 drivers and
installed them. The Aero theme has returned to my settings and all the glass
effects are available again. I reran the performance test, and the video
card went up .1, but I just need to get a different computer, I think. Thank
you everyone for all your help and have a great day!

"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

> Sounds like your video card driver is unstable.
>
> If you are using the video card driver that came in the box (so to speak)
> with Vista, try upgrading to the latest video card driver available for
> Vista from your manufacturer.
>
> If you are using a video card driver from your manufacturer, try rolling
> back to the default Vista video card driver.
>
> Once you've done that, try running a system performance test again - this
> should kick-start desktop composition. You can do this from Control Panel ->
> System and Maintenance -> Check your performance rating (under System), and
> then click Refresh my rating now.
>
> - JB
>