Disable “Do you want to change the color scheme to improve performance?” warning

Question

Sometimes this dialog box will pop up (see screenshot below). Every time it appears I select "Keep the current color scheme, and don't show this message again". Windows then reminds me again -- either the next day or after reboot, or sometimes another 5 minutes later.

Do you want to change the color scheme to improve performance?

Windows has detected your computer's performance is slow. This could be because there are not enough resources to run the Windows Aero color scheme. To improve performance, try changing the color scheme to Windows 7 Basic. Any change you make will be in effect until the next time you log on to Windows

• Change the color scheme to Windows 7 Basic
• Keep the current color scheme, but ask me again if my computer continues to perform slowly
• Keep the current color scheme, and don't show this message again

Is there some reason why Windows is ignoring/forgetting my attempts to suppress the dialog? I'd love to never ever see it again, it's annoying, and it alt-tabs me out of fullscreen applications.

If it matters, I'm running Windows 7 x64 Professional. I believe the dialog appears because I'm forcing Vsync and Triple Buffering for DirectX applications.

Answer 1

Assuming you realize this message is informing you your system is low on resources and is asking you to disable Aero so it can keep performing at optimum speed,

1. Go to the Start Menu and type Action Center on the Search box
2. Start it (it should be the top entry, under the "Control Panel" group)
3. On the left sidebar, click Change Action Center settings
4. Untick the Windows Troubleshooting checkbox, under "Maintenance Messages".
5. Click the Ok button and you are done.

Here is a screenshot of the setting screen:

Alternatively:

• You can try and keep this setting just as it is and switch to Basic desktop mode before launching the applications that usually fire up this Action Center notification. Or,
• You can right click the icons you use to fire up these full screen applications, clicking properties and under the Compatibility tab tick Disable desktop composition. This will disable the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager service during execution of this application which will increase system and video memory and avoid some application incompatibilities. A likely cause for your Action Center message if you have enough system and video memory but are stuill getting this message with certain games or full screen applications.

Answer 2

You are running out of GPU memory. This may be :

1. A bug in a graphical-intensive program that you are using (such as a game)
2. A bug in the video driver,
3. A resource-starved computer.

As you are running Windows 7 x64, the third possibility doesn't probably apply.

For the second possibility, you could update your video driver to the latest version as found on the manufacturer's website.

For the first possibility, if this is always happening when running the same program, then it might have compatibility problems with the Aero theme. To disable Aero while running that application, modify the Properties of its executable to "Disable desktop composition" :