WindowBlinds & Windows 8.1 Pro

update;

Allowed EVERY .exe in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\WindowBlinds folder in Webroot SecureAnywhere's PC security Block/Allow file list

Used Revo Uninstaller to uninstall WindowBlinds, clearing All files, services, registry entries.

Run WindowBlinds installer as administrator / Rebooted

Ran WindowBlinds (activated it) & tried to apply a theme (Echo), loading / wait screen appeared (Black Background with White Circle, it's actually only blurred the desktop when I completely disabled Webroot come to think of it)

Theme does NOT apply, trying to change to a different (any) theme & clicking apply does nothing.  Restarting the WB service & then trying to apply a theme also does nothing.

Won't attempt anymore fixes till I hear back from someone (hopefully), just documenting the steps I've taken so far.

jbenn1980 - I've created a ticket for you and you should receive an email shortly.

sludge7051x - Why doesn't WB tell you to restart? I'm not sure why it would. Can you explain?

Because, the changes that I make in WB do not take effect until after a Restart

I'm using the latest version of Avast 2015 - could that have anything to do with it?

I was going to wait a week before posting my user Feedback.  I write notes about what I go through to get what I want.  I will give you the current version:

CURRENTLY IN USE - DO A RESTART AFTER APPLYING THE SETTINGS, FOR THEM TO TAKE EFFECT

Win8 (Window 8) (Preset)
. . . Good colors
. . . Shows the area to click for Show Desktop (bottom right)
. . . Color / Colors / Change System Colors / first screen listing / Background set to white
. . . Color / Transparency / Reset - a slider moved
. . . . . . I was seeing some distracting transparency in the Title Bar, does this fix it?
. . . . . . Yes, but I had to click to one window, and then back, for it to Refresh
. . . . . . Now it seems to have taken effect, and stay there?
. . . . . . No - if I'm reading a news article, highlight text, and then click to use Natural Reader, the Title Bar goes into partial Transparency
. . . . . . When I click the browser to make it active, the Title Bar goes back to opaque
. . . Color / Transparency / move all three sliders to the right / Apply Style - fixes it?
. . . . . . Yes, but I lose some of the nice coloring
. . . . . . top left . . . max right alone - does not fix
. . . . . . top right . .  max right alone - does not fix
. . . . . . bottom . . . . max right alone - fixes it . . . but now my desktop icons have Shadows
. . . Color / Fonts / not sure what was the original, but I have put the size on 5 of 9
. . . . . . [check] Do not apply any skin system wide fonts - still have shadows - Restart - ok, no Shadows now

sludge7051x - I've created a ticket for you and you should receive an email shortly.

03/27/15

Using Win 8.1 with Classic Shell and Avast.  I have de-installed both Window Blinds and Skin Studio.  Reasons:

1.) WB doesn't work smoothly, which is distracting - maybe it's low specs on my computer

2.) compared to a basic Windows Theme, WB seems to slow down my computer, which slows productivity

3.) a Theme is supposed to be Applied after you click the button, but, I see that a restart is required to do it, seems buggy

4.) a restart is required to completely de-install each of the above - this indicates to me that it must hook in deeply to the OS

5.) they need you to install a program (SDSupportTool.exe) to diagnose problems? - privacy and time issue

6.) the WB Notification Tray icon does not behave, it insists on being on the far left, which is where I start with frequently used icons

7.) could #7 be due to a conflict with Classic Shell, and maybe Avast? - well, I absolutely need to use CS with Win 8.1, so WB has to go

8.) when I click "Show Desktop" in the bottom right, it sometimes gives you a grey screen with blurred text for 5 seconds, before it gets to the Desktop, and I think that this is with one of the WB supplied themes

9.) I'm not really impressed with most of the themes, which are grey, and dark ... it will take me hours to figure out how to change little things that I want ... and when I change something, like transparency, that messes it up in other parts of an otherwise nice theme (Diamond).  I got WB, because I want Win 8 to look like the Win XP theme.

10.) I'm not really impressed with most of the user generated themes, and some seem to create stability issues

WB seems like it could be a good program, but it's not spectacular, and works too clunky on my system.

Using Classic Shell may be part of the problem.

1 - What are your specs? Is your video driver up to date?

2 - Could be due to specs.

3 - A restart is not required to show the theme.

4 - It's good practice to restart your PC after installing/uninstalling software. More so for software that modifies your OS UI.

5 - You're not installing a program, you're running a log tool to gather your system specs, installed Stardock software, crash logs, etc. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to run and attach to your reply in the ticket. The log tool creates a .zip file you can go through yourself to remove anything you find private.

6 - This is not something WB has control over.

7 - Classic shell may very well be the conflicting app here. We also make Start8, a much better Start menu for Win8.

8 - Your OS is responsible for this button and it's operation.

9 - I believe you could find a theme to do this on WinCustomize already. Or you could skin in SkinStudio.

10 - There are Master Skins as well if the community content is not of interest.

Thanks Gear.  Here are my specs.  All software is up-to-date.  I tried clicking around on WB for a few hours to get things how I want, but wasn't able to, as described above, so I don't think it works well enough on this system.  Maybe I'll try it again if I get a faster system.  I have reached my frustration level limit with it atm.

Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Pro 32-bit
CPU
    Intel Pentium 4 521
    Prescott 90nm Technology
RAM
    2.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 332MHz (5-5-5-15)
Motherboard
    Hewlett-Packard 09F0h (XU1 PROCESSOR)    146 °F
Graphics
    HP 2311 (1920x1080@60Hz)
    512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT (Undefined)    108 °F
Storage
    149GB SAMSUNG HD160JJ ATA Device (SATA)    97 °F
    233GB Maxtor 7L250S0 ATA Device (SATA)    94 °F
Optical Drives
    HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GWA-4166B ATA Device
Audio
    SB X-Fi Surround 5.1

Other than the PC being a little long in the tooth [8 is claimed to be lighter on resources than 7] I'm with The_Gear... I'd be looking at Classic Shell as the issue.

"WB seems like it could be a good program" --- Windowblinds IS a good program [already].  It has been around longer than most computer users have had computers and is both professional and competent.  The same cannot be said for every [other] OS GUI addon....;) 

I can't say it better than Jafo, but I'm right there with him.