old 4:3 games on widescreen problem - can't get proper aspect ratio

I've just discovered that this laptop seems to be incapable of running 4:3 ratio games without stretching the game across the entire width of the screen, which looks absolutely terrible.

specs:
gateway-NE533, Windows 8.1, AMD Radeon HD 8240

I've tried opening up AMD Catalyst Control Center, going to "Properties (Built in Display)" and choosing "Preserve Aspect Ratio." The problem is when I do that and hit apply, it autoselects full screen even though I had preserve aspect ratio checked.

I've also tried installing the newest AMD drivers for the graphics card, with the same result after the install. Does that mean that there's no way at all for me to be able to use old 4:3 games and have them not stretched across the whole screen? Are there actually graphics cards/monitors which don't support scaling like that? (And why would the option be there if it didn't?)

The only other thing I can think of is maybe using a virtual desktop would work? I don't know much about virtuals desktops though other than they exist. Would something like that be free? And would that be able to have a separate, unstretched 4:3 desktop, besides the main native-res desktop?

I'm really worried here because I like to play 4:3 games often, and so far I haven't found a way around the problem.

 

I usually run them in VMWAre window of the proper aspect.
Many I have only run under XP and I don't really want to dual boot so VMWare is a doubly good solution.