Application access to the root window

[Jim FitzRandolph <gnome_fr fitzrandolph com>]

I have just upgraded from 1.4 to 2.4, and seem to have lost some capabilities.

Under 1.4, I ran sawfish. I had also disabled Nautilus.  This was done because
I like to use a dynamic background (xphoon, xearth, xantfarm, etc), and I
found that I did not need Nautilus all the time.  I was able to access
menus on the root window using a right mouse click.

Under 2.4, I have a choice.  I can either
  1  have root window menus with Nautilus with no background application -or-
  2  have no root window menus without Nautilus with background applications

Is there a way to tell Nautilus that you want transparent wallpaper?  Is there
a way to get Metacity to define root window menus?  Or am I just SOL?

Thanks