WindowBlind causing trouble

systray icons disappear, programs won't start

from Stardock Forums

 


Seriously, what is up with WindowsBlinds?

I went ahead and paid for it. My mistake, obviously. I realize from previous bugs that calling things "bugs" is considered offensive (why?) but it is indeed flawridden, unstable and unpredictable.
If that is by design and not to be regarded as bugs, so be it...



  • Suddenly, and for no reason, the battery icon disappears from my system tray. It is (duh) not hidden in the hidden part of the tray, and it is still checked to display in the energy properties from the control panel.
    Unchecking, okaying, and rechecking the "show battery icon" box in the control panel properties doesn't help either.

  • On restarting windows, my MSN messenger icon doesn't show in the system tray. Sometimes (not always) it helps to "run" the MSN messenger from the start menu -- but I use quotation marks as I don't actually *run* it. It shows up logged in and ready, and was obviously already running in the background.

  • On restarting windows, typefaces sizes that I have set before closing windows are not retained. Desktop icons and menus are suddenly large and ugly, and I have to start each new Windows session with resetting the typefaces to my liking.
    Thank god I'm using a laptop, which doesn't have to rebooted every day. But do you desktop guys live with this?

  • Since I installed WB, my Explorer has gone unstable and prone to shutting itself down, and my CorelDraw (version 9) suddenly cannot be started at all. What's that about?

These problems have occured with all the skins I have used so far.

My system information as shown in the WB control panel is:



WindowBlinds 5.0 System Information Report:


STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+ TRAY+


WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.


WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC


Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.


You have one monitor in total.


(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller


Wblind.dll      2006/01/19 11:37:36
Wbsrv.dll      2005/12/20 22:57:44
Wbconfig.exe      2005/12/05 18:42:52
Wbload.exe      2006/01/19 11:37:42
Wbhelp.dll      2004/09/18 16:37:00
Wbui.dll      2005/12/06 21:29:06
Tray.dll      2005/11/02 13:28:26


Please do advice and tell me what to do! Or did I just spend my money on pointless fluff that I will have to uninstall to be able to work?


/f.

windowblinds
5,933 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
When you upgraded to the paid version. Did you uninstall the freeware version first? Rebooting in between?
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Hm... don't think I did. Should I have?

Is this a stipulated thing to do, that I have missed?
Or is it something that's been gathered from experience?


Would you suggest that I uninstall all Stardock-related stuff at this point, and then reinstall it all again?
Is it likely that that will make my problems go away?
(Not that I want to whine after having seen your avatar, but there are sooo many other things to do in a day than reinstalling software that I'm just curious as to whether this is a known solution or just a hunch... )


Thanks,


 


/F.

DeskScapes - Bring your desktop background to life.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Would you suggest that I uninstall all Stardock-related stuff at this point, and then reinstall it all again?


Yes. Uninstall, make sure all files have been deleted, reboot and reinstall. I am pretty sure your problems will be solved.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I never went from the free to the paid version, but I'm curious:

Does SDC automatically uninstall before installing updates or new versions? Because it doesn't give you a chance to do that manually - once I click agreeing to update my SD software from SDC, it just does it.

Thanks.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
From my understanding, SDC looks at the XML for each app, compares it to what's new, and only downloads changed files.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
The way I understand if from what I've read: SDC also only looks at those progs installed through SDC.  So if you installed a trial separately you definitely want to uninstall and remove it prior to installing the paid version.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top


Oh well, didn't exactly help...

Uninstalled everything stardock related. Corel Draw started up fine. Every systray icon in place.

Reinstalled Stardock Central, and from that Windows Blinds. Nothing more.

Now Corel Draw can't start again. Even if I put it in the exceptions list, not to skin it...
And in the WB control panel, no elements show up as a preview when I choose new skins...
And stuff in the Explorer statusbar are redrawn on top of each other...
And instead of transparency, some skins show pink pixels...

Did I pay 50 bucks for THIS?

I know, I'm whining. But you do earn a certain amount of whining points when you reinstall stuff... 

Any other advice? Anyone? Uninstall the sucker?

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What processor do you have?
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Never mind the CPU...try this: In WB config/ System Information, check both options at bottom. Apply. Basic Settings/ Performance; un-check all three. Apply. Re-boot.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top


Thanks yrag -- followed your suggestion, but no luck.

After reboot, neither battery or msn icon appear in systray.
Corel Draw can't be run (unless WB is unloaded)

About the typeface problem I have concluded that as long as I don't change anything within the "ordinary" windows advanced settings dialog (i.e. where I set fonts and colors for normal XP) the typefaces look the same after reboot.
If I change settings in that box to get the look I want, the typeface will be larger than selected upon restarting windows. So that bug is still there.

About the instability issue I don't know anything yet, since I only just restarted my computer.

Anyway: No solutions to my problems yet.
I am using a FujitsuSiemens P7010 laptop, 1.1GHz P4, with 512 MB RAM.


* sigh... *

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Locate wbsys.dll on your disk (system32 directory) and rename it to something else.

Does corel open up now?

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For the systray problem; in Stardock Central/ Tools/ Settings/ General enable both MCP options (if they are already enabled, disable both). The Corel problem is a bit more perplexing in regards to WB. I know of no Intel problems (nVidia and AMD dual core are both problematic) that would be causing it not to run. If it shows running in Taskmgr then try this: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c717d943-7e4b-4622-86eb-95a22b832caa&displaylang=en
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
oops..........sorry Neil.....didn't see ya comin'....
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
vanishing icons i just had that problem with XP64 i tryed everything to get them back uninstall WB and every thing works fine reinstall and icons disapered.  it tock me 2 days and one very helpfull sugestion from Neil Banfield  uncheck the show pre release ver and then install the non beta ver of WB. i even formated and did a clean install of xp64 nothing worked untill i did away with the beta ver
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

 


I thought WB5 was a released software now, not a beta?

@yrag: Corel doesn't show up in task manager, so it obviously just exits completely. I didn't really understand your link -- were those Visual Basic files? Am I having a Visual Basic-related problem?

@Neil: Just curios: is the wbsys.dll a WindowBlinds file? Can it be renamed while still running WB? Because I have already established that as soon as I unload WB, Corel runs fine. So it's just that I can't have WB running -- its files may still reside in my system, though.

Thanks for your input, keep'em coming

Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Am I having a Visual Basic-related problem?


If it's not running, then it's not a VB problem. I've never heard of WB just shutting down a proggie. It sounds more like a Windows system file problem, but, very honestly, that's a guess. Neil is the 'go to' guy for this, so stick with him. Few (if any) Stardock problems go unresolved and I'm confident he'll get you straightened away.
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top

WB is not a beta but the new version of 5 is beta. if you have ver 5.00.001 installed that is the release ver. but if it somthing like 5.00b[b].002" then its beta.


i had no problems other than my email will not work while WB is loaded when i was running the free ver 5 but when i went and payed for it i didnt look at the installer very good and missed the beta info so when i instaled it i lost a lot of my icons the first time i instaled it so i hunted down a warz copy of wb 5 {i have no idea what i was thinking at the time}and instaled that lol things went down hill fast after that. i even went back to the free copy and it would not work at all now. in the end i formated my install of xp64 and reinstalled it all.


then i unchecked the show pre release thing at the bottom of the stardock center installer and all is working fine other than i still cant get email to work while wb is installed.  email works fine in XP home but not int sp64 when WB is instaled. but i cna live with that.

Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
We've had trouble too. I bought a previous version of WindowBlinds a few years ago, and had nothing but issues with it crashing programs, etc. Decided to try the trial version thinking that all the issues were probably resolved by now, only to find that it's the same story. It crashes apps, refuses to acknowledge certain programs, and I have to unload it to get some things to work at all. It's a great idea, and I love the look of it, but I just can't justify buying the full suite of programs if I'm going to have to not use them while I'm doing anything productive on the computer.

Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I used to have this exact same problems with my Fujitsu C2210 lifebook, my problems stemmed from running a copy of Windows XP proffesional that was not legal...Perchance you are running an Updated copy of Windows?..All the things you mentioned I had problems with. Till I reformated and reinstalled my copy of XP home..Not saying you got a pirated copy of XP, but not updated will give you those issues. Now my machine runs just fine. Just need to have a stable updated copy of XP to cure the problems. also make sure you have your shared ram for the video set in the BIOs to atleast 32 megs, but 64 works way better.