A plea for help with ODNT products.

from WinCustomize Forums
Sorry if this develops to be a long rant

I'm having a few or more problems with ODNT products, and no one either even notices or bothers to answer me in the stardock newsgroups. I'm am a paying subscriber to ODNT and I think its not too much to ask that I would like to even _use_ the software I have paid for. (I probably could have my money back, but that's not the point, I _do_ want to use the software, that's why I paid for it

1. ObjectBar (1.02) at random, about 4 in 5 times when I start up my computer, OB makes the computer hang. I can ctrl-alt-del the taskmanager, but can do nothing there. mouse moves. nothing short of the push of the reset button will solve it. and chances are, I'm facing the same thing as soon as the comp starts up. Haven't tried 1.04 (see below)

2. WindowBlinds (3.3b) Makes my computer work ssllloooowww... every single UIS2 skin resizes wrongly when taskbar is at the top of the screen. (it behaves as the bar would be at the bottom). When UIS2 skin resizes so that the titlebar goes under taskbar, the titlebar disappears, and I have to alt-f4 the window. UIS1 skins do not have this behaviour.

3. Component Tray (don't know which version)
it lists the updates available three times in a single message window, then crashes.

4. Component Manager (1.2) this is what pisses me off the most. I start it, it displays the splash screen and exits. nothing more. I've tried reinstall/uninstall/reinstall a hundred times but to no end. While it behaves like this, I have no possibilities to try newer versions of the above software, and thus, I can't use them.

System:
Intel 1000MHz Pentium3
ASUS CUSL2 (i815) MoBo
512Mb PC133 RAM
WindowsXP Pro (Retail, 2600)
Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 Ultra (DetonatorXP 28.32)
ATI Graphics Pro Mach64 GX (XP default drivers)

anybody, please?
2,783 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You're running 2 graphic cards?
Skinning/skinnable proggies in general put a fair load on graphics resources...and it's usually imperative that at least the latest drivers are used. I've never run twin cards, but I know they are not necessarily all fully compatible....and can have 'issues', and due to the graphic intensiveness of GUI skinning, any anomalies may manifest themselves more so when skinned than without.

Or...
I've totally lost the plot, and it's just a fragged proggy install.

Unfortunately, I'm only using the Component Manager, and Windowblinds, so I'm unpractised with the others...
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
This sounds like incorrect DLL's or something to me. Have you tried removing and reinstalling component manager? If possible drop into stardocks irc irc.stardock.com channel is #stardock. Then you can talk in realtime to the developers and maybe sort something out there and then.
ObjectDock - Access shortcuts and frequently used applications from an animated dock.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've been running multiple monitors since Win98 and I've never witnessed any buggy behaviour related to that. There are some programs that do not like multiple monitor, but all the generally do is refuse to be moved on to the secondary screen and/or lose any window that is moved there by other means.

But, as I said WB with UIS1 skin works like a charm and doesn't do anything "funny". Too bad that there are so many new UIS1 skins. And I'm not the only with the UIS2 problems. Try for yourself, lot's of people on the newsgroups have reported this, yet stardock never says anything about it. They may have even fixed this with newer builds, but with the CManager bug I'm experiencing, I can test it.

pjpowell, a straight quote from my earlier post "I've tried reinstall/uninstall/reinstall a hundred times but to no end." but thanks for the tip, I'll drop by at irc.

thanks for replying anyway guys, now I know I'm not invisible

ps. strange if no skinner uses multiple monitors? they are just great for all development. You can have the main program, preview and any documentation open full-screen at the same time. drop by at RealTime Soft (http://www.realtimesoft.com) or Multi-Monitor Gaming Web (http://mmgw.nitesade.net) if you have more questions conserning that.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Sorry I can't offer any help, but for the record, I do use two monitors. I have one dual output video card. Multiple video cards was very buggy on Win2k (happily running XP now).
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Nite77 - anybody, please?

your OB problem sounds familiar from the stardock OB newsgroup. i cannot really check the newsgroups from this machine, so cannot confirm.

however, if it was you, did you try the resorce meter check i suggested?

low system resorces are one potential factor in what you described.

to be fair there were quite a few replies in the OB newsgroup to the thread i am thinking off, it is just that we werent making much headway.

as for component manager, have you tried an earier version? i am running version 1.1.0 without problems.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
feline, not that I recall, and I'm running XP, so there isn't really any resources like in Win9x anymore.

but, I did a ... radical thing. Component Manager is working now, I'm just downloading WB3.3g, IP 1.95c and OB 1.04. And I'm not gonna even touch the others

PS. regedit and DOS-mode deltree are pretty nice tools...