Uh oh. I followed that whole example, but still couldn't get the interactive "Default" desktop to go away. After a lot of testing, I had the silly idea to check the "Password protect" check box on the screen saver dialog. Et voila! The documentation never says that part. It constantly implies that screen savers automatically launch in secure mode unless... they don't. Which is confusing as heck. At least now I know how the secure mode is created, even if I have no control over the process. It's Windows that decides which context to run it in. IF it's in secure mode, it does exactly what I want: create a blank desktop showing the current wallpaper and nothing else (save my screen saver form, which I made transparent). That's wonderful. But I want that to happen whether it's in secure mode or interactive mode. So I'm going to have to do some more testing on the desktop creation and switching API, which is a headache for a noob, but I suppose it's good learning experience. Narf.

No, it's Windows that is making my life miserable. I am just trying to learn how to make use of the APIs to do something that, conceptually at least, is very straightforward. The second link is one I already used. I think it was the third one I found for making C# screen savers. Also, Visual Studio 2005 comes with a screen saver learning kit, and I used that one, too. I know the basics already. But my only problem now is I want to view the wallpaper - and nothing else - beneath my transparent pane, while still preventing any keystrokes etcetera from getting through. Technically my problem is not knowing how to do that, but that's why I'm asking for help. The first link is also interesting, and I may want to look at it later, but it's for a different kind of project than what I am trying to do here. Thanks anyway. Narf.

Use keydown etc. events to filter out any bad characters, then in lost focus use IpAddress.TryParse(string). If that works IpAddress.Parse(string). I don't know about your app, but you might also want to handle host names in the same box, which makes things a bit more complicated as well. The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.

As someone else said, why bother with drugging the person in question? A mask would take a while to set, so you'd have to keep the person out for a while. A pair of decent camera's at known positions can do a 3d scan, rapid prototype a head with a hole in the top, pour in hot coffee to fool the infra red. The best advantage of this is you can scan a lot of people walking by the cameras, then pick and chose your victim. Even the best facial system out there isn't worth much more than protecting a laptop. If you want high security biometrics, you'd have to go with retina scans. They're more difficult to steal and replicate. Couple that with personal pin numbers and you should be at the top of automated security. The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.