Unintentional Moves and (gasp!) DELETES Using Fences

from Stardock Forums

This is really beginning to irk me.

Fences is not deselecting selected items on the desktop when it should resulting in (most notably) unintentional moves of icons, and even unintentional deletes.  This happens WAY more than I am comfortable with, and I'm wondering how many times I've accidentally deleted something and just never knew it.

A typical scenario might unfold something like this, and mind you this is just one of probably billions of scenarios:

I'm browsing images in a Google result.  I wish to save a couple, so I drag the first onto the desktop.  Because I have a default Fence, the image is automatically placed there.  Then I go back and drag a second image onto the desktop.  At this point, normal desktop behavior would dictate that the previous item would automatically be deselected as the new item is dropped, but it is NOT.  This leads to the potential for all kinds of bad things to happen.

When something is selected on the desktop, the ONLY way it should remain selected is if the next mouse click action uses either the CTRL or SHIFT key modifiers.  Any other mouse click MUST release all other selections and act upon only the new target.

Unfortunately, the predictability of when you are going to get bitten by this bug is not always obvious or reproducible.  That said, this is not the first post I have read about mysterious behavior on the desktop, including unintentional renaming, moving, and deleting.  I have experienced all three of these.

I am using Fences Version 2.13.  As far as I can tell, the last update to this program occurred in 2013. 

Is this program under active development, troubleshooting, and support by Stardock, or are we looking at a dead application here?

Fences is an outstanding program for extending the usability and utility of the desktop.  But it is also dangerous and unpredictable. 

How about some support and a fix?

fences
6,160 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top


How about some support and a fix?
End of quote

How about?

If you haven't done so already then please request a support ticket here -https://esupport.stardock.com/index.php?/Tickets/Submit

You will receive an auto-generated ticket number. When you have the ticket number you can post it here in a comment.

Do not resend another email until you hear directly from a support tech or you will lose your position in the support queue.

Support would be happy to respond to your issues.

 

Please note above the forum section on Stardock Summer Vacation notice.

There could be delays in responding to tickets.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

This problem has existed for years, and has been ticketed by a few people, so it's reasonable to assume it won't be fixed before Fences 3--if there will be a Fences 3.

 

I've learned to make sure I click and right click on the empty desktop after doing any Fences work, that gets around the issue.

 

Win7 Pro x64 SP1

Fences 2.13

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

I submitted a ticket and got back a canned response asking me to run a tool that basically sends an obscene amount of technical, and even personal detail about my computer back to Stardock for analysis.  They also recommended running a "purge" tool, which if I read correctly is just a more advanced uninstaller than the usual Windows Programs & Features uninstaller.

So my question is, has anyone run this "purge" tool and have it successfully correct the issue I outline in the OP?

My suspicion is that the purge tool is just another part of a canned response and has little chance of doing anything but creating a whole bunch of work for me in rebuilding my desktop all over again.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

yes i´ve run it several times
all was good

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for pointing this out.  I just tried it and experienced the same results.  I guess I never ran across it because I usually download my files/images.  I think it works ok that way.  I never simply dragged images to the desktop.  Interesting behavior. Definitely a "bug" that needs to be fixed.  I do get a pop-up dialog that warns me about the replacement image.  At least that helps.  

Thanks again for the observation.

 

Mike