Start 10 demo disables desktop (explorer) when it expires

from Stardock Forums

Just had a case where the demo for Start 10 expired when I was on vacation. When the PC started it went to a black screen with no desktop, no message, no indication of the reason for the problem. Trying to start Explorer.exe caused the desktop to appear briefly then crash agan. To get things back I had to run Task Manager, kill the Start 10 process then start Explorer.exe to get the desktop back. At that point I could uninstall Start 10 and the machine worked perfectly from that point.

Having a trial that can make a computer inacessible once it expires doesn't seem the brightest idea!!

8,693 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

I have forwarded your report to the Stardock support team for their review and recommendations.

Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates.

We really do appreciate your feedback, thanks.

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top


Having a trial that can make a computer inacessible once it expires doesn't seem the brightest idea!!
End of quote

What makes you believe it was Start10 as the cause?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 3


What makes you believe it was Start10 as the cause?

End of sdRohan's quote

Booted up, got a black screen. Checked task manager and explorer wasn't running. Tried to run explorer.exe, it started briefly then crashed. Stopped Start10 in the process list, started explorer again and it worked.  Rebooted, needed the same sequence to get a desktop. Uninstalled Start10 and not had a problem since.

Plus this in the event log points to Start10

Faulting application name: Explorer.EXE, version: 10.0.19041.1151, time stamp: 0x2885d2b8
Faulting module name: Start10_64.dll, version: 1.9.7.0, time stamp: 0x60c79978
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x00000000000f971f
Faulting process ID: 0x1234
Faulting application start time: 0x01d7a26b94eecfa9
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Start10\Start10_64.dll

Hope that's useful

Mike

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

I am hopeful the upcoming 1.97.1 update resolves this