Lately (past few weeks), whenever I play a video game, then quit, Aero doesn't seem to like sticking around anymore!
For example, I was playing something an hour or so ago, and just now when I was writing a comment on a question here, I decided it had no value, and so closed the tab. The JS message box telling me I was closing the tab turned aero off.
I… wait what, Why? So, as usual, I grab a command prompt and type: "Net stop UxSms && Net start UxSms" to restart the dwm, and it pops back up again. However, all is not well, if I switch windows, or open another (in this case an explorer window), bam, I'm back with basic.
If I reboot, everything is fine, and aero sticks around whatever I do (until, of course, something like a game turns it off – then we're back to where we started).
Any help? Troubleshooting steps I should take to resolve such issues in the future?
Best Answer
It might be that the game program hasn't closed and is still causing problems from the background.
From Troubleshoot problems with Windows Aero:
And another possibility:
You might also verify the video card driver from the manufacturer's site (not Windows update).
EDIT
Found an interesting article :
My Vista Aero Glass Turned Itself Off, How Do I Enable it Again?
It lists a few more cases that you might like to check, but the text you'll find most frustrating is:
This means that your game has taken too many resources to keep up Aero, and Windows just stays in basic mode afterward.
For more shortcuts for turning on Aero and transparency, see:
How to Enable or Disable Aero in Windows Vista