I want to know how to: 1. Get the desktop (the actual screen) using DirectX 2. Get the pixels from the desktop 3. Set the the pixels on the desktop I want to be able to do this without using a form and on DirectX 7.0 or higher. Here is what I want to do for a program: Scan every pixel on the desktop, then overwrite certain pixels depending on their color. I want to be able to do this fast and effectively without the user noticing the application.

You can get a handle to the desktop using GetDesktopWindow().

Thank you for your help. Could you give me a good example of how to use this code?

I haven't really used it myself. It should return a HWND which points to the desktop.

I remember seeing some directx desktop stuff on planet source code. So mabye you could have a browse around there.