A very anoying yet old FENCES bug

from Stardock Forums

ok. i have been using fences for several months now and i am glad to say that is the best thing in terms of desktop organization. Simple and efficient, yet there is a bug i am still surprised to see with every new version to come.

it is easy to replicate and it never fails:

i have most of my desktop organized in several fences depending on category: work, my computer, download, utilities, etc. One of these categories is Games which is the most problematic of them all because every time i enter a game, after i had quitted the game the game icon from the desktop has moved to another fence just like that. it happens each and every time (probably due to the full screen effect that a game has) but it never fails to appear. just enter a game with double click and that icon will move itself.

another problem i find it very distracting is with the renaming of file and folders. almost every time i rename a file it dissappears or move in another place and i must hit refresh in order for it to reappear. it moves when you first rename a file  then delete it then create another file in another part of your desktop and give it the same name as the previous one.

 

hope you can get these bugs fixed by the next version, it would really be a great relief.

23,268 views 28 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I've never had an icon switch fences....sometimes on double-click into a full-screen app it will end up on its own on the desktop [not in a fence].  I think that ceases to happen once the system has been rebooted - it only happens with newly created icons/installed apps.

As for renaming....if you do that before putting the icon in a fence it'll stay there...;)

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Hi IceReaven

We unfortunatly haven't been able to reproduce... what operating system are you working with? Which specific game and do you know the original resolution / what resolution it changes to? Do you have a mutli-monitor system? And you say it moves to a different fence... if you say move the fence that it moves to to another spot on the screen, does it still move there? If you put another new fence where that one used to be, does it show up in that one instead?

Thanks for any information...

-Jeff
Stardock

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

hy guys.

ok, here are my computer specs:

i have a laptop: msi cx600 with a widescreen monitor. my rezollution is 1366x768 and i don't think it is a multicolor system. It runs on windows 7 ultimate final build: 7600 and on a clean desktop (with no gadget enhancements or anything) . I also have windows aero enabled, but that is not the problem.

by moving to another fence i really mean move to another fence not to another spot on the screen. sometimes it moves into a fence bellow the visible area of it adding a scrollbar to that particular fence so i simpli cannot see it anywhere on my screen so i have to click an icon and click the initial of that icon's name untill it focuses on it in order to find it.

it seems to happen sometimes regardless the game i use, but tipically i think as a pattern it happens when i enter a game which has a resolution ratio different from my screen's (for example i enter nsf most wanted that has a 4:3 rez and my laptop has 16:9. the game does not stretches, instead it is centered on my screen and black space is added at either sides.) Each and every time i run that game it moves to a different fence( yes, sometimes it moves on a different part of the desktop as well)

i will happily provide you with more info if you need and if you still don't manage to reproduce it i can give you a live view of my desktop and show it to you from my computer.

 

Glad to be of service,
Stefan.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

I have the 'escape to deaktop' bug and it's not just with new icons.

I have the launch icon for 'Lord of the Rings Online' in a fence (runs DX10, fullscreen, same native res on desktop). Every time I run it, when Windows switches off Aero Glass so the game can run, the icon escapes to the desktop. Every day, I put it back. It's not as amusing as it once was.

Windows 7 full version, home premium, ATI 48xx video.

 

(sorry if dupe - the forums just 'went boom' as the error page said, when I was posting.)

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

I have the same problem as Ice_Reaven, with the moving icons and strange renaming of icon behaviour. I had the problem on Windows Vista, and still have it on Windows 7 (clean install.) My desktop resolution is 1920x1080. I pretty much just play Team Fortress 2 all the time, and it keeps on switching to the fence right above my 'Games' fence. which runs in 1280x720 full screen mode. It happens with other shortcuts in other fences as well. I have an NVidia 8800 Ultra. Oh, and I am using Multiplicity at the moment, although this problem has plagued my since day 1 (before I had Multiplicity).

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

I have problems like this too. I have Windows 7 at 1920x1200 and when ever I come out of a fullscreen program or game that is at a different resolution (always a lower one) one or more of the icons on the desktop has moved.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

any update on the matter?

have you managed to replicate the behavior?

when will it be fixed?

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Vista, 1920,1200 - don't use full screen games, but also have an occasional icon move from a fence to the desktop.

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Me too! Win 7 Professional 1200 x 1920.  Mine move mostly to the desktop rather than to another fence

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Win7 Pro, 1366x768, but games running fullscreen at 640x480 on some.  I can confirm a few icons jump fence.  Just as soon as I get Fraps back on here I'll take a quicky video and upload it to demonstrate.

Out of curiosity, are you running 32 or 64 bit? (I'm 64) Might have something to do with that, I've seen a few 64-bit processes from Stardock where necessary (WB mainly)

Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top

Yes!  I have this same problem with Win 7 ultimate.  It always happens to me with fullscreen games, but not one game in particular.  Another weird aspect - with certain games, the icons move to certain other fences.  i.e. One icon always wants to move to a certain fence, and another always moves to a different fence-- they always move to the same fence consistently.

I've seen the other bug where an icon isn't visible too (on rename?) but I have yet to identify how to reproduce that one.

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

Okay, if I move the fence this one icon always wants to go to, and then start the game, when I exit the game the icon goes to the regular desktop instead of in the fence it was moving to.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Raaaah this sucks, it's too annoying.. I can't take it... X(  

 

Heh.  No really-- is there any kind of logging we can view/enable or something so we can provide better debug information?  This is Fences PRO in my case, if that matters.

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Another thing to add - I have a shortcut to an application that runs windowed which also moves. It doesn't move on startup, and I'm having trouble consistently reproducing it.

But I did notice a flicker effect when it moved once.  I think this may have something to do with a DeskScapes 3 animated wallpaper re-starting after exiting from a fullscreen application.  Not sure how it picks which shortcut to move but it's always one used very recently.

 

Is anyone else with this problem running DeskScapes 3?

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

We unfortunatly haven't been able to reproduce... what operating system are you working with? Which specific game and do you know the original resolution / what resolution it changes to? Do you have a mutli-monitor system? And you say it moves to a different fence... if you say move the fence that it moves to to another spot on the screen, does it still move there? If you put another new fence where that one used to be, does it show up in that one instead?

Windows 7 64-bit (RC)

Desktop: 1920x1200

Star Trek Online: 1920x1200

City of Heroes: 1280x1024

My icons within fences will sometimes move out of their fenced areas and back onto the normal desktop. They are not affected by Fences Pro's sorting behavior, otherwise they would end up in the fence I have new stuff go to.

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

I have the same problem, and it drives me nuts.  Whenever I launch ANY fullscreen program (game or otherwise), that program's icon will jump out of it's fence and move somewhere on the desktop.  I'm not sure how you guys can't reproduce it, because it happens every single time with me, and it looks like it's pretty common.

 

This has happened to me running both 64-bit 7 and Vista, and I believe it was happening with 32-bit Vista as well (all Home Premium).  My desktop resolution is 1366x768 and my games usually are running at 1024x768; I've also tested it running games at 800x600 and it still happens.

 

Edit

I just did some followup testing, and if my desktop resolution equals my game resolution (1024x768 = 1024x768), the icon does not leave the fence.  Also if I leave my desktop resolution set to 1366x768 and run the game in windowed mode (1024x768), the icon stays in its fence.  For the record I'm testing this using Steam games.

Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top

BINGO.  Finally got Starcraft to make this happen.  Looks like Jeff may have it fixed in the next build.

Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top

Coolness! Hopefully the next build isn't out yet, since I am still having this issue ^_^

Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top

Has there been another release yet?  I don't remember seeing one.

Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top

Has there been another release yet? I don't remember seeing one.
End of quote

I don't believe publicly, but one should be coming soon.  Other fixes are going to be there as well.  Jeff's been busy with some more pressing projects.

Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top

It's now getting towards late April 2011, and it appears this is still not fixed.  Has Fences become the orphan child for StarDock?

I love Fences due to its help in keeping my desktop less cluttered, but this bug surely should have been fixed by now.

I can confirm I get the same behavior as others have described here, particularly by Rilian43 who described his escape artist LOTRO icon never staying in his Games fence.   I do the same and at present it is ONLY the Lotro icon which escapes to another fence.  Since Lotro always turns of the Aero effect in Win7, I wonder if that has something to do with it?

 

I run Win7 Premium 32bit with 4gb RAM.

Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Might have been fixed in Fences Pro, but not necessarily in the free edition of Fences, MorrisAO... just speculating, though.