Screen Saver Quirk

I have finally figured out how to fix a quirk with my computer's screen saver.  From what I've read, the problem is endemic to Gateway computers running Windows Vista.  I'm not sure how many people are affected by the glitch, but I'll post the solution here just in case someone can use it.

Here is the problem:  every time I reboot the computer, the screen saver wait time resets to one minute and the screen saver fails to activate.  The glitch also affects the computer's power settings, meaning the computer never goes to sleep.

After much digging online, I have finally found the solution.  Windows Management Instrumentation, which provides some hard to define but apparently non-essential background in the Windows environment, needs to be turned off.  The process is as follows.

• Click the Start button and in the "start search" field, type MSCONFIG.  This brings up the Systems Configuration dialogue.
• Click the tab marked "Services."
• In the left column, click "Service" so the display will be sorted alphabetically.
• Scroll down until you find "Windows Management Instrumentation."  
• Click the check box so that it is now blank.
• Click "apply."
• Reboot the computer.

The screen saver settings should now be saved through each boot of the computer.  So far, turning off Windows Management Instrumentation has not negatively affected my system.  I'll update if anything happens.