Some aspects relate to providing a graphical interface for an application, underlying a graphical interface provided by an operating system shell. In an example, an input device (e.g., a mouse) generates an event associated with a location of a graphical display. The event is intercepted by a code segment provided in conjunction with the application, which determines whether the location is associated with a defined portion of the display associated with an actionable area of the graphical interface for the application, and that the location is not also associated with an element of the OS shell graphical interface (and if applicable, an active window of another application). If those conditions hold, then the event is redirected to the application, which can become active or take one or more actions. In a particular example, the defined portion of the display is visually distinguishable on a wallpaper image stored in video memory.