It is though... (hence why I put 'problem' in quotes)
I mean, it is indeed related to how you can customize the Desktop (it's not a problem/issue of Windows, it was designed to do that).
That is what Active Desktop stands for. When you customize how your desktop looks by adding dynamic content or something, the 'Active Desktop' is automatically activated and actually turns your static desktop window with background into an HTML page. Otherwise Windows wont be able to show you the content.
PS: the Knowledge Base isn't just for bug workarounds. In fact, 99% of the KBs consists of HowTo's, from very basic ones to very advanced ones. It is hard to search if you don't know the correct search terms though.