hmm. seems like there would be some way to make it do what you want. mine becomes completely transparent from time to time (lack of ram with multiple users logged in) while I'm doing things, mainly trying to connect to the internet (dial-up). so I'm sure there's some way to turn the visibility off, or something of the sort. if you knew where to look.
but, then again, I don't know jack about programming, so it's all just conjecture based on something that happens because i'm too cheap (well broke, actually) to buy more ram right now...