Keep/move Fences on top of other Windows ("Peak") not working

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. The Windows-Cntl-Space work for me. Not sure why its not working on your system. Maybe something is blocking it from working. Please try purge and reinstall steps as mentioned here: [link]. Just make sure to redownload the latest version from your account. Reboot after the purged. Reinstall, and Reboot again after the installation. Retest it. Report back here.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

I ran the Purge bat file, as an admin. I told it to delete my prefernces when it asked as part of the uninstall. I then rebooted the machine.

After the reboot, I ran Regedit and searched for Fences. I found a bunch of items with "Fences3" in them. I did not delete them but I wonder if those leftovers could be a problem(?).

I then reinstalled Fences 4 and rebooted the machine again.

The problem is still happening. I try Windows + Space or Windows + Control + Space but the Fence(s) stay behind any other windows.

When I try Win-D or Win-Shift-D or Win-Space or Win-Cntl-Space the Fence title becomes non-opaque, like it is trying to work but it is still behind the other windows.

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having issues.

What is the full version  number of Windows your running ?

AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

I'm running Windows 11 Version 10.0.22000 Build 22000

And Fences 4.0.0.3

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having issues.

Try running the purge one more time Reboot and reinstall 4 Reboot and test .

Don't make changes or deletes to the purge or install.

turn off your AV software when you do this , please .

Test and report back  here ..

AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

OK. I turned off my Anti-Virus, I ran the purge script and it rebooted the machine.

After the reboot, I again turned off the AV and then installed Fences 4. I then rebooted and created a Fence. I did not change the purge script nor the install file.

I then tried Win-Space and Win-Cntl-Space.

Neither of them brought the Fence above an open window that was on top of them.

Any other ideas? Or any other information you would like me to provide?

Thank you very much.

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.

Please try cleanboot as mention here : https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#cleanboot. Might be something is blocking it. Try it and report back.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

I did the clean boot and the Peak with Win-Space worked correctly. I then signed out of that user (without a reboot) and signed into my normal user and it did not work. So I undid the clean boot (i.e., turned all services and startups back on) and then rebooted.

I then logged into the new admin account and the Peak worked correctly. Then I logged into my normal account and it did not work. So the clean boot did not make a difference but my normal account (even with all services turned off) did make the difference.

Thoughts on how to figure out what is wrong with my account?

Thank you

Something went wrong in your main admin account. Try the "sfc /scannow" and if needed the "dism.exe /online/Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth"

For reference :

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

I ran DISM and then SFC with the options you stated. They both ran fine. SFC said it did not find any inconsistencies. I rebooted the machine but the problem is still there. I will try booting into Safe mode tomorrow unless you have something better to try.

Thank you

Michael

The only other steps I can think off is for you to move to your new admin account that is working or, which not everyone like to do, fresh install Windows 11.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

It's going to be a process of elimination, of enabling the 3rd party apps\services one at a time, reboot, to see what one is causing it to fail.  Not fun but the effort should highlight the culprit.

We would also be keen on knowing what app\service caused it.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager 

I'm not sure what you mean by enabling 3rd party apps\services because I can turn on all apps & services, and Fences' Peak will still work on the new admin account OR I can turn off all apps & services and Peak will still not work on my old admin account.

Note, when I disable all (non-Microsoft) services there are a few that System Config will not let me disable. I can't turn off: 3 of the AntiVirus Avast ("aswbIDAgent", "Avast Antivirus", and "AvastWscReporter"), and one other service: "Malwarebytes Service"). Then when I disable all Startups in the Task Manager I can't disable "Avast AvLaunch component". I tried disabling Avast for 1 hour after the reboot but it did not make a difference. Peak still always works on the new Admin account but not on the old one.

So it seems that enabling or disabling all apps and services does not affect either the old or new admin account. Peak always works in the new admin account but not in the old one.

I also tried running in Windows Safe Mode but I could not get Fences to run. It said it was not installed.

That is news to me then and good to know.  

Then it leaves a setting in Windows that is likely the cause - no less of a pain to track down, however.

What would be interesting to know, however, is if the Fences Task Scheduler settings are the same under each account:

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

I looked at both entries in each account and compared all the properties. They seem to be exactly the same. I can post you a snapshot if you want.

I was thinking that maybe some other program was stealing the control keys from Fences but I can see the transparent Fences change to bold, i.e., without transparency, when I select the Win-Space keys. So the Fences program does receive the key sequence.  It is just that the Fences all stay behind the open windows. I also noticed the icons on the desktop do not disappear when the Win-Space is selected like they do in the new admin account where Peak does work.

Any idea on how to find the window setting you mentioned? What steps would I use to figure that out?

Thank you

This might help?

https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/list-all-hotkeys-used-shortcuts-script/

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

I copied the VBS text from your link to a VBS file (ListHotKeys.vbs) and ran it. It brings up a pop-up window with no listings. I tried in on my account and on the clean admin account where the hotkey works but I still get no listing. I ran the hotkeys list from Nirsoft, as the bottom of the article suggested. It shows the hotkey is assigned but it does not tell me which program owns the hotkey.

Having said that I don't think this is the right investigation. I can tell that Fences is intercepting the Windows-Space hotkey because the transparent Fences become non-transparent when I press the Windows-Space keys. So Fences received the hotkey but it is not able to bring the Fences window to the top of the other windows (top of the Z list).

Everything happens the same when I run in the clean new admin account except that account is able to bring the Fences to the top of the other windows. I.e., the transparent Fences lose their transparency (showing they received the hotkey) but then they do pop their window to the top of the other.

So the big question is what is blocking the old admin account from bringing the Fence to the top of the other?

v/r

Does anyone have a solution to this? I am getting the same issue, tried everything mentioned here with same result: new accounts work, the original one will not. The windows 10 install is only a few days old as well. Starting over on the new account isn't ideal, it could just happen again and we're back to square one.

Edit: I had fences disabled for a day or so, decided to enable it again to use without the peek feature. Inexplicably, it worked correctly until I rebooted, where it was once again broken. Also, if you toggle peek to show with the hotkey, while it is active (despite not being on top as it should be, as mentioned above) dragging windows around will leave trails of the window wherever you drag it, until you hit the hotkey again.

I still have the exact same problem (from the beginning of this thread). The Stardock tech support stopped answering my posts so I gave up in January. I've been hoping someone would eventually figure this out. I created a new admin account and everything works great. But I can't get my regular account to work with peak and I don't have the time to spend to move everything to a new account. Plus I'm worried something in the new account (from the old account) will break it and then I'll be back where I started after wasting many hours.

I had to turn on animations in Windows to get this to work. When I toggle it back off, it will work until I restart my computer or leave it always on. I tried it three times and got the behavior.

Relevant Post I found this in:

RESOLVED: Fences Peek not working on Windows 11 » Forum Post by markussnasel (stardock.com)

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Is there a way we can have this feature work without turning on animations?

I gave up on this one and did not check back in since 2022. I now see the messages about turning on animations. I did that and SURPRISE Peek now works. It would have been nice if that had been explained in the version 4 instructions (now that we are up to version 6).

Hi everyone and thank you for posting.

For anyone having trouble with this, please see our documentation under the "Fences Troubleshooting" category of the Help Center:

• Fences Peek not working on Windows 11 - Documentation - Stardock Help Center

Thanks again and best regards,

Adam McGuinness
Stardock Customer Support Specialist.