Solved Smooth Fade-in/out animation after logon gone

[RosieMcCattail]

Hi. So as the title says, the smooth effect after you type in your password is gone. Instead the language selector at the top left corner turns black and the screen just flashes and switches to desktop.
I am quite sure this happened after I let my PC sit unattended for it to self-lock while playing an old game (HOMMIV), and as we know, old games change visual effects and disable Aero and all that. Now usually these effects would come back after I finish playing or just reset the Aero via Personalization panel, but this time it didn't happen, a reset didn't help and it persists after restarts (this happened about a week ago).

I've tried ticking performance options off and on, Aero effects off and on, playing the game and locking-unlocking again, changing screen resolution to 800x600 and back, and in general some "turn it off and then back on" things. Nothing helps. I would appreciate any input on this matter.

P.S. I don't remember if it should LOCK the screen with a fade - I don't think so, but in any case, the LOCKING is not smooth either.

 

[RosieMcCattail]

The smooth fade-in has magically reappeared today. I have no clue what might have caused any of this.