POSSIBLE SOLUTION FOUND!
I believe I have found a solution! I will be continuing testing to make sure it DOES in fact work, but I'm hopeful :) I have detailed how I found the solution in EDIT THREE of the question!
For anyone wishing to know the full background behind my problem and what I have kind of tried as a result of input from this question, see this: http://pastebin.com/nTrEAkVj
I will be editing this frequently (>3 times a day most weekdays) as I progress my research and situation, so keep checking back if you are interested or have some information or knowledge of my issue :)
Quick Background:
I have this app I have made that can be crashed by changing my screen saver or locking my work station, and in general whenever a WM_WININICHANGE/WM_SETTINGSCHANGE message is sent to it.
If I can consistently crash my app by changing my screensaver, then SOME part of doing that is sending my app SOME kind of message (not necessarily a windows message, I mean message in the most general sense), which in turn is catastrophic to my application. Due to this, I am trying to find a way to block whatever message is causing my problem from being processed by my application. I am aware this isn't the best way to go about a solution, so you don't need to tell me. Look at the background info or ask why if that bothers you (there is a good reason).
My Question:
there are several things that any information about would help me solve my problem, labelled according to relevance (1 being most relevant, 3 slightly less helpful):
I am trying to use Wndproc() to filter out my message like this:
Protected Overrides Sub WndProc(ByRef m As System.Windows.Forms.Message) If CInt(m.Msg) <> CInt(26) then MyBase.WndProc(m) end if End Sub