Windows Aero not working and invisible area on desktop?

Hello I've been using my Windows 7 Professional for two years now but after restarting my computer one day I ran into a few problems and I can't seem to find an answer on how to fix it.

Suddenly Windows Aero decided to not work, I noticed this when my transparencies were gone. Here are the some of the specs of my computer.

Windows 7 Professional 32-bit edition
i5-760 LGA1156
Nvidia GTX 460
4GB DDR3 RAM


Here is the follow things I did to attempt to fix/troubleshoot.

• Ran "Find and fix problems with transparency and visual effects" to attempt to have windows fix it. It said "Desktop Windows is disabled" but nothing happens even when they said they enabled it. Manually starting it at the services menu has no effect as well.
• Updated to the latest Nvidia drivers (even tried downgrading once to see if it had any effect)
• Switched to an ATI video card to see if it was a video card driver issue. Aero still didn't work so I'm pretty sure it isn't a video card issue.
• Updated DirectX
• Tried to use a different Aero Theme from the personalize menu.
• Ran Windows Experience Index and got a 5.9
• System Restore to an earlier date. Still didn't work.

Also after that day something weird happened on my desktop. I seem to have an invisible area to the far left of my screen. It's only on the left and towards the upper area because when I move my mouse there it disappears. (Bottom left is okay because my mouse doesn't move out of the border) I can even drag files and have windows open up in this area. At first I thought it wouldn't be too much of a bother but after a while it started to get annoying. Here is what I did to troubleshoot it.

• Check my display resolution. It is listed as 1920x1080. Tried using other resolution but there's still an invisible area there.
• Check to see if I might have mistakenly enabled dual monitor. Only one monitor is detected.
• Adjusting the settings on the monitor itself such as "auto detect" "H position" and "V position". Nothing really happens.

These are the two main issues I am having at the moment and if anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this it would be greatly appreciated. Running the computer on safe mode does fix the invisible area problem but I'm not sure about the windows aero because I don't think it runs on safe mode.

@kukupo : I had the same problem for one week : no Aero at all and an invisible area at the top of the right monitor. Also, in my case, the "Use Aero Peek to preview the Desktop" option was checked but grayed out (Start Button's properties / Task Bar tab).

I finally find out the culprit : a Mirror Display driver used to transform my iPad as a third screen. It was installed months ago and ran without any problems, but the last Windows Update did replace mygraphic card driver (GeForce) and it seems nor more compatible now.

When I looked at my graphic card in the Device Manager, I saw 3 Mirror Display Drivers : Logmein, Air Display and iDisplay. I uninstalled all of them and Aero was back without even rebooting. I then reinstalled Logmein and it was still working. I didn't reinstalled the others apps, so I don't know exactly which one was causing the problem...

Hope this can help, Sylvain.

sylvain rodrigu said:

@kukupo : I had the same problem for one week : no Aero at all and an invisible area at the top of the right monitor. Also, in my case, the "Use Aero Peek to preview the Desktop" option was checked but grayed out (Start Button's properties / Task Bar tab).

I finally find out the culprit : a Mirror Display driver used to transform my iPad as a third screen. It was installed months ago and ran without any problems, but the last Windows Update did replace mygraphic card driver (GeForce) and it seems nor more compatible now.

When I looked at my graphic card in the Device Manager, I saw 3 Mirror Display Drivers : Logmein, Air Display and iDisplay. I uninstalled all of them and Aero was back without even rebooting. I then reinstalled Logmein and it was still working. I didn't reinstalled the others apps, so I don't know exactly which one was causing the problem...

Hope this can help, Sylvain.

Thanks for the response and luckily that was my problem. I had another display driver which I used so I can display a tablet I have on the computer. It never had problems before but once I uninstalled it everything is finally back to normal.

Thanks a lot you saved me a lot from my frustration.