I have not had this problem with excel. I am running xp sp3. I personally do not like running other programs while a screen saver is running in the background. It is easier to turn the saver off and when I finish work or games or whatever, I can turn it back on. Besides, I find graphic intense programs slow down other programs and I don't need that going on. But if you need to run the screen saver while running excel I hope you can find a solution.