WindowBlinds 6 Beta Feedback » Forum Post by Neil Banfield

WebGizmos

Join Date 09/2003

+735

Do we still need to turn off Auto Archiving to get the latest update? Kinda defeats the purpose of archiving. I lost my last version because of that and had to find another one.

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Love the new look to WB and I'm really enjoying the included "Diamond" Skin.

However, if I use any of the skins other than the XP default ONE, I can no longer get my task-bar menu to appear. Normally you would right-click on the task-bar to display the menu. Now, with WB6 installed, the task-bar disappears, the hour-glass pops up then, after a few seconds the task-bar comes back but still no menu. To get it to appear, I now have to use the [ctrl]+[alt]+[del] combo!

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Outlook

It should be

I assume this was a response to my blank dialogs in Outlook 2007, etc. post. Just to feedback, yes the latest build has fixed the problem. Thanks!

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I still have my problem with my menus in explorer and Outlook Express - menues are ok in non MS applications.

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i have uninstalled , rebooted and reinstalled twice, the newest windows blinds 6 beta 5.92[b].093, and both times, wehn i start the windows blinds 6 application, the screen is 90 % black, cant see any of the skins or see any of the options in the screen. i have tried , by guessing, to go to the about screen to use the slider to change interface color, it does not work, just black as can be. Is this something with this build?

thanks for help

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Fuzzy Logic

Join Date 05/2002

+496

the screen is 90 % black, cant see any of the skins or see any of the options in the screen

Same here. I restored Vista from back-up to get me back to an earlier version. I'm a bit hesitant to update again.

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I also had to turn off Auto Archiving on my both my Vista and XP machines.Other than that everything went smooth. Problems I was having with Moulten skin and a couple of others seem to be fixed. I did notice that not all skins seemed to have been moved to the new folder. Had to move them manualy, but then they worked fine afterword.Different skins in Vista than in XP wern't moved so no hint as why.

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I have the same problem, Neophil. This is the first post I've seen that mentions the prob. I upgraded to WB6 and Start Meneu and Taskbar were skinned 'til I rebooted, then both were rendered in Windows Classic only. When I opened WBconfig, the skin did not show a taskbar in the preview! If there was a substyle to the skin, it still had the taskbar visible in the preview pane, and a skinned taskbar and Start Menu...until reboot, then also that substyle had no taskbar in the preview pane. Any skin I chose, same behavior. Diamond ran until I rebooted, then no taskbar skinned and none visible in the preview pane. Only way I fixed it was to delete the theme and reinstall it, then fine 'til next boot! Weird, yes. Hope it gets fixed soon

I have the same problum with new build help

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6 (6.0 (build 28 x86))

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500

(Scroll down for more)

Wblind.dll 2007/09/24 19:08:20
Wbsrv.dll 2007/09/24 19:08:43
Wbconfig.exe 2007/09/24 19:08:02
Wbload.exe 2007/09/24 19:08:13
Wbhelp.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:07
Wbui.dll 2007/09/24 19:08:06
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 17:58:21
Screen.exe 2007/09/17 12:24:52

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In Adobe Photoshop CS2, when I select an area I get bitmap pink in the selected area. I am on XPSP2.

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vStyler

Join Date 11/2004

+919

My update went relatively seamless however It seems as if Wbcfg is applying skins noticably slower now... not good when applying several hundred times a day.

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Daiwa

Join Date 07/2001

+351

I had to purge the .wb4 files a couple of times, reset all the Trans/Blur settings to defaults, and reload the skin a couple of times after the .090 update on both rigs I updated. For some reason, the trans settings had been changed without user input during the update & the StartPanel was completely transparent initially, among other little anomalies. 2-3 cycles of cache-file purges & reloads & the skin displays normally again. Holding off on the .092 update until the archive issue is fixed.

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You know, I really really don't want all of my WindowBlinds skins moved to any other directory. There's a reason they are all where I put them. With over 300 skins at over 2.5 Gb, this is more than just a minor annoyance. I love the random WindowBlinds feature and the transbar stuff most of all in beta 6, but making me move all my skins to the same partition with my OS is unacceptable. I seriously may have to rethink renewal of my OD subscription - it's that big of a deal - it's not just some whiny pansy-ass threat. I've loved the program from before Neil Banfield even joined up with StarDock, and I've invested a lot of enjoyment and time in exploring the fantastic creations of the skinners of the various OD apps., but this present inconvenience passes the margin of diminishing returns for me. Please spend some time coding some alternatives to the present situation, and thanks for the great service, support, and community so far.

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ShelbyGT_The_Car

Join Date 01/2004

+103

You know, I really really don't want all of my WindowBlinds skins moved to any other directory.

Then lets put them back with this little bit of help and not worry about them being moved. Just one thing tho - be sure you change this back to it's original key before you update wb again. thus only placing the basic skins wb6 comes with in the shared folder and your library where you want it. Here is the way to do that....

The location where WB looks for skins is set by two registry keys. They must be set to the same directory.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\WindowBlinds\wb5.ini\Installed\Path

and

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Stardock\WindowBlinds\wb5.ini\Installed\Path

If you want to put your skins elsewhere then you can change those keys and copy ALL of the directories off the current WB skin directory to that directory.

I really hope this will help you out - it is with very good intentions that the developers have moved things as they have done. It has been said before though it is "Very hard to please everyone in a crowd~!"
But if we all work together on this project and have an open mind as to the why's and why not ...? Things work so much better~!

SGT

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Here's another one. If i right click on my task bar........... explorer shuts down and restarts, again doesnt do this if WB6 is unloaded.

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Is there a reason none of the DesktopX items are blurred the same way the wallpaper, desktop icons, and other windows are blurred? I can move my window around and the titlebar shows the items behind it with the nice blur effect, except for DesktopX items.

Just curious.

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neophil78

Join Date 06/2003

+67

have the same problem, Neophil. This is the first post I've seen that mentions the prob. I upgraded to WB6 and Start Meneu and Taskbar were skinned 'til I rebooted, then both were rendered in Windows Classic only. When I opened WBconfig, the skin did not show a taskbar in the preview! If there was a substyle to the skin, it still had the taskbar visible in the preview pane, and a skinned taskbar and Start Menu...until reboot, then also that substyle had no taskbar in the preview pane. Any skin I chose, same behavior. Diamond ran until I rebooted, then no taskbar skinned and none visible in the preview pane. Only way I fixed it was to delete the theme and reinstall it, then fine 'til next boot! Weird, yes. Hope it gets fixed soon

I have the same problum with new build help

Found the way to get rid off this ...
In fact when ugrading to WB6 (and probably during all skins are moved from C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object Desktop\WindowBlinds to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Stardock\WindowBlinds all .wb4 files are deleted.
If you still have Skinstudio V5 as .uis editor, when editing any .uis file and saving it, it seems to not create all the .wb4 files needed by WB6 version.

Though the solution if you have those kind of troubles with a skin (at least under XP) is to edit the .uis file no more with Skinstudio V5, but with Skinstudio beta 6 and save it this way, and as a magical fairy coming on your PC, everything's go back the right way ...

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neophil78

Join Date 06/2003

+67

Damned, i was wrong, it still doesn't work this way ...

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Neil Banfield

Join Date 04/2001

+1105

We have put up a new build including 64 bit Vista support.

If you have any problems with this then please let us know.

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neil, i'm running the build for vista 64. the issue i'm dealing with is the taskbar is less transparent 1/2 inch from the left side of the screen than the rest of the screen. this is happening with all blinds. i'm using Optix now but you can see what I mean in this pic >>

and yes, i know this isn't Optix!

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Glad to see a x64 beta released. Everything works great except I still have a problem where my system tray icons jump up to a huge size if the top image height for BMP is set to anything higher than "23". I'm wondering if thats fixable? I'm guessing it can be......

Also when opening the Catalyst Control Center (ONLY WHEN USING A CUSTOM SKIN - Ati Crimson and so on) It seems to not open correctly. Just hangs with "Not Responding" in the window titlebar. This happened to me in 32 bit as well (before I upgraded my pc and went x64).

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Z71

Join Date 08/2001

+76

I'm having a "top taskbar" issue.
The (quicklaunch) icons are going behing the startbutton.
This happens on XP and Vista. Happens with old and new skins.

WWW Link

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PurrBall

Join Date 02/2003

+23

"Edit in SkinStudio" isn't working for me in Vista Home Premium 32bit, latest build. Hasn't ever worked with any WB build in Vista. I've tried clicking it in all three places. I have both SKS6 and SKS5 installed.

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Then lets put them back with this little bit of help and not worry about them being moved

Thanks for the suggestion. I saw the registry "hack" earlier, and tried it out. It worked fine. I just wish I'd seen your message before I updated WB6 today

Anyway, I've gotten everything ironed out with reg keys that I've exported for installations and updates, so I'll see how it all works for a while. Thanks for the info.

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Neil Banfield

Join Date 04/2001

+1105

Z71: if it happens on XP and Vista then it is a skin bug.

I would guess that the skin is using a start button overlay to make the start button bigger than it really is.

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neophil78

Join Date 06/2003

+67

have the same problem, Neophil. This is the first post I've seen that mentions the prob. I upgraded to WB6 and Start Meneu and Taskbar were skinned 'til I rebooted, then both were rendered in Windows Classic only. When I opened WBconfig, the skin did not show a taskbar in the preview! If there was a substyle to the skin, it still had the taskbar visible in the preview pane, and a skinned taskbar and Start Menu...until reboot, then also that substyle had no taskbar in the preview pane. Any skin I chose, same behavior. Diamond ran until I rebooted, then no taskbar skinned and none visible in the preview pane. Only way I fixed it was to delete the theme and reinstall it, then fine 'til next boot! Weird, yes. Hope it gets fixed soon

I have the same problum with new build help

Found the way to get rid off this ...
In fact when ugrading to WB6 (and probably during all skins are moved from C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object Desktop\WindowBlinds to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Stardock\WindowBlinds all .wb4 files are deleted.
If you still have Skinstudio V5 as .uis editor, when editing any .uis file and saving it, it seems to not create all the .wb4 files needed by WB6 version.

Though the solution if you have those kind of troubles with a skin (at least under XP) is to edit the .uis file no more with Skinstudio V5, but with Skinstudio beta 6 and save it this way, and as a magical fairy coming on your PC, everything's go back the right way ...

I was wrong to say i was wrong

IT WORKS, i just omit to delete previously the lefted .wb4 made when applying skin through SKS V5 (BTW, it would be interisting to understand why SKS v5 is now obsolete ...

)

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