Windows Aero theme being reset to basic, can I stop it?

[Snoberry]

Some games I play automatically reset my Windows theme to basic before starting, and it's really starting to piss me off, because when I'm done playing I have to go through a 5-10 minute process to 'fix' it.

Is there a way to stop programs from making changes like this?

I'm running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium.

[Jurikuer]

It doesn't take 5-10 minutes to reset back to Aero...

And some games require you to revert to basic, so there isn't much you can do about it.

What games cause this?

[Snoberry]

Uh... yes it does. Whenever I try to go into the personalize options to set my theme back to something I have saved using Aero it reloads the theme but keeps the basic toolbar. To get Aero back I have to go to start and type 'Aero' in the search bar and run "Find and fix problems with transparency and other visual effects" to get it back, which usually takes 5-10 minutes.

Zoo Tycoon 2, A couple on steam I can't remember the name of off the top of my head, Cities XL 2011, and a couple others.

[Mokkan13]

I'm pretty sure Vista and probably 7 too, disable Aero when you boot full screen applications, in order to save ram and what not..

Though there is certainly something broken if you have to load Aero manually..

[Snoberry]

No, it's only a few games. A lot of the others I play don't disable Aero or change the theme.

[Qombat]

Keep it disabled?

[Snoberry]

That doesn't solve the problem. I don't want Aero to be disabled at all. I like it. Basic is crappy.

[Jurikuer]

It sounds to me like your OS is broken. My Windows 7 64 bit works perfectly fine and changing the themes take only a couple seconds. Try a system repair or windows update. Perhaps even a de-frag or virus scan.

[Nsybouts]

Most older games require for it to be set to basic such as BF2.