What OS, what Windowblinds version, how can IP cause problems, what sort of graphic card, are you running the latest drivers .... and all that stuff??
And have you RTFM?

RTFM is 'Read The F***** Manual'......a famous quote in shell-swapping circles....

Is that how manuals get copied

'Read The F***** Manual'...

If you got no answer from support@stardock.com at all then we didn't get it.  There is an auto response that has tons of info sent in it with instructions on the bottom that state how to get support if you did not get the answer to your problem in the auto response.

Newsgroups are read by first and second level support and the developers.  The newsgroup post that was quoted had Brian (the developer) answer your question.  What other company gets you directly in contact with the developer?

There was an email from you from the 28th that was not answered because the answer was in the info supplied by the auto-reply.  (You may want to actually read the auto reply and the support page, as it has a vast amount of info on it). 

The WindowBlinds issue that you are referring to was responded to (the last time) on 9/3/03 without a response received back from you.

I have no record of an ObjectBar issue being reported to support@stardock.com.

Saying that you "get no answer of all that ... " is obviously not true.

by Admin KarmaGirl - 10/2/2003 6:56:54 AM If you got no answer from support@stardock.com at all then we didn't get it

Yep i got response, but not resolving trouble response ...

The WindowBlinds issue that you are referring to was responded to (the last time) on 9/3/03 without a response received back from you.

??? the last response i got and i send a response is effectivly from the 9/3/03

[copy on]
From: "Philippe PAQUET"
To: "Stardock Support"
References:
Subject: Re: error message : WBload unable to start communication with server
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 18:33:44 +0200
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0007_01C37249.E7E92060"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4922.1500
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4925.2800

C'est un message de format MIME en plusieurs parties.

------=_NextPart_000_0007_01C37249.E7E92060
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Hi, i've the latest version avaible for Win98 2nd (WB 3.51.053)
It was not installed over an old version as i change my hard disk not =
long time ago and anyway, before each update i un-install previous =
version first ...

So ??

Philippe PAQUET
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Stardock Support=20
To: Philippe PAQUET=20
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: error message : WBload unable to start communication with =
server


Are you running an old version of WindowBlinds? What version are you
running? We used to (a long time ago) connect and report the "most
popular skin". But we have not done that since WC was developed. If
you installed over an old version, you may not be actually using the
new version if it did not overwrite WBload. I would suggest
uninstalling, rebooting, then installing the newest version of
WindowBlinds in Stardock Central.

Thank you,
Angie

[copy off]

and here the previous exhange :

[copy on]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 18:13:01 +0200, Philippe PAQUET wrote:

>see the answers in your mail
>
>Philippe PAQUET
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Stardock Support
> To: Philippe PAQUET
> Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 4:00 PM
> Subject: Re: error message : WBload unable to start communication with server
>
>
> To better assist you, we need a bit more information. Specifically,
> we need to know:
>
> 1) Your subscription/serial number
> OD-XXXXXXXX- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>
> 2) Your hardware configuration (video card and CPU are the most
> important ones)
> Video card : Hercules 3D prophetII MX
> CPU : Intel Pentium 3, 667 Mhz, 640 Mo SDRAM
>
> 3) What version of Windows you are running
> Win98 2nd
>
> What has to do my config configuration and the OS i'm running with the fact that WBload has to connect to any server ????????? at any time, without i know about it ????????
>
>
> Thank you,
> Angie
>
>
>
> On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 13:03:29 +0200, Philippe PAQUET wrote:
>
> >From times to times when i stop (or reboot) the PC, i get that error message : "WBload, Unable to start communication with server" + a button [OK], then unless i click OK or press CTRL+ALT+DEL to stop WBload, the PC don't reboot or stop
> >
> >Does it mean Stardock is connecting on my PC all day ?? (to look after which skin i use for example ...)
> >
> >BUT i NEVER saw any advertissment from Stardock about that practise even when i installed it the first time !!!
> >
> >Anyway, how can i disable this feature ??? (or have control on it ?)
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Philippe PAQUET
>
>
> ===================================================
>
> Stardock Support
> 17292 Farmington Rd
> Livonia, MI 48152
> United States
> Phone:
> (734) - 762 - 0687
> FAX
> (734) - 762 - 0690
>
> For best results, use Stardock's news server:
> news://news.stardock.com and visit the appropriate news group.
> https://www.stardock.com
>
>

[copy off]

I have no record of an ObjectBar issue being reported to support@stardock.com.

I said it was posted on the newsgroup ... and it was not about an issue but about a question i asked to how do some thing ...

Saying that you "get no answer of all that ... " is obviously not true

where do you see a valid and correcting answer to the question i asked ???

Based on this and the fact you can't get SkinStudio to function I suggest requesting a refund. Your system and desktop enhancements don't seem to get along very well.

Frogboy - 10/2/2003 8:50:38 AM Based on this and the fact you can't get SkinStudio to function I suggest requesting a refund. Your system and desktop enhancements don't seem to get along very well.

sorry but i'm not sure to understand what you mean ...
the latest version of SkinStudio and IconPackager are getting me in troubles not the previous one ... and my system and desktop enhancements goes fine, don't you see those nice screenshots i uploaded ???

Frogboy : the issue i get with the last IconPackager version is a known issue on WIN 98 2nd which may be solved with the next version (has it was told to me) i think it's a similar problem with the very today's SkinStudio version (which is stil in beta ...)

If i follow you, there was a long time i should have gave up with Stardock products and i'm just using Object Desktop since 1999 i think ... (the other things i was talking about - ObjectBar, WinStyles, Tab LaunchPad also, were just informations i wanted to know on how do some things with these softs and were not issues ... )

IPlural, of course i've already posted on the "normal" places, newsgroups and support @ stardock (my posts on Sardock Newsgroup are signed as PhilIP ...)

You say that an older version works fine, I would roll back to that and wait to see if a newer release fixes the issue if you are fed up with trouble shooting your specific issues.

I'm not talking of older version but on just THE previous version as to say IconPackager 2.12b.076, and SkinStudio 3.95c[b].002. These are not ancestral
versions and of course i've re-installed those versions which are not giving issues ...

In fact the problem may be just relative to any other alpha or beta versions of softwares... As i said i'm using Object Desktop ODNT since 1999 i think, so i've seen a lot of alpha's and beta's versions of the different softs which were not running and which were getting issues ...

N.B: I'm not running an AMD CPU but INTEL PENTIUM III with 512 Mo SDRAM and everything's is running fine...

Although the newsgroups are available and SD staff do cruise through there (the OB inquiry apparently was posted in the newsgroup), the newsgroup is still not the same as emailing SD support directly. As far as I can tell, the question re: OB was not emailed to SD support.

It's not entirely fair to flatly state that one is not receiving support when one does not go through the official support channel with one's issues and (apparently) does not follow up via that same method.

I'm curious about the Win98 updates and such, if you've applied them yet?

euh, don't worry all my system is up to date and works perfectly . as i said somewhere, i'm giving tips and so on the french Microsoft newsgroups of WIN 98, Internet Explorer and Outlook Express .... and on hardware also, so i think i know a little what i'm talking about when speaking about Windows ... even if no one can pretend knows everything, i think i can tell i'm a very informed user ...

Users run into things that they figure out that tech support might not run into or might not have run into yet at time. Newsgroups, message boards and chat channels are a very good source of information and possible problem resolution, but in the end tech support is something one should always follow up with without a doubt. As with any tech support one finds that there is some time involved with finding the right solution and with the revisions (if your running betas) it can add to things.

I've not run into any situation where I needed to contact them and do not know if that will ever come about, any questions I have had so far have been answered here on the board or on the irc chat.