SystemInformation Class

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SystemInformation Class

StewartBW 1,805

Hi,

Anyone knows the difference between Application.RenderWithVisualStyles vs SystemInformation.UIEffectsEnabled?

I wanna know if visual styles are enabled system-wide and my app does not have admin rights when running, so which one fits best?

Also, anyone knows the purpose of SystemInformation.Secure Property? What is Security Manager? If TPM hardware, I have but the property returns false for me!

I'm using VB.net WinForms.

Thanks in advance :)

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Answer 1

Castorix31 90,521

Application.RenderWithVisualStyles enables Common Controls v6 with

CreateActCtx

(like in a C++ code I had posted at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1530593/how-do-i-enable-visual-styles)

SystemInformation.UIEffectsEnabled just calls SPI_GETUIEFFECTS (list at "The following are the UI effects" https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winuser/nf-winuser-systemparametersinfow)

StewartBW 1,805 Reputation points

2025-06-28T07:27:45.1833333+00:00

Thanks, BTW, do you know the purpose of SystemInformation.Secure Property? What is Security Manager? If it stands for TPM hardware, I have it but the property returns false for me!
Castorix31 90,521 Reputation points

2025-06-28T09:11:03.4+00:00

SystemInformation.Secure reads SM_SECURE

But doc says :

"This system metric should be ignored; it always returns 0."

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winuser/nf-winuser-getsystemmetrics

I asked to IA which answered :

*** What was SM_SECURE for?**

Originally, SM_SECURE was defined as:

The system is secure, meaning that the screen saver is password-protected.

This flag was used by some old applications to detect whether secure logon (or a secured screen saver) was in place.

*** Why does it always return 0 now?**

Over time, Windows security architecture evolved. The secure screen saver concept and logon security were moved into other policy mechanisms (e.g., Group Policy, registry, and security descriptors). So SM_SECURE became obsolete.

Microsoft formally deprecated this metric and effectively hardcoded it to return 0, meaning:

Do not rely on this flag for any security-related purpose.

That’s why the MSDN docs now say:

This system metric should be ignored; it always returns 0.

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SystemInformation Class

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