Fences causes my screen background to randomly go black

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Need to know more information on your system and issue.

1. You on Windows 7,8,10 or 11? And also post its full version number please. Use Winver.exe to get those.
2. You on Fences version?
3. What error popup if any when your wallpaper go black?

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

What a coincidence, I've been having the same issue ever since I upgraded Fences Pro. I believe I have version 3.09 and my records indicate I upgraded on 1-19-2020. I have Windows 10 version 21H1 Build 19043.1889. I just today purchased the upgrade to 4.0 but as of this writing have not installed it. I was not aware of the 4.0 upgrade so maybe the issues will go away, maybe they won't, when I do the upgrade.

I have dual monitors if that matters, and it seems to happen if I have multiple applications open. There are no specific applications that cause the problem. There are no error messages. No particular pattern that I can see, but as the OP said, it will fix itself eventually. This never happened prior to the 3.09 upgrade.

This morning I installed a new video card, an EVGA GTX1650 Super, 4GB. The reason I am even here now is because I noticed that a number of icons inside the fences were jumbled around AFTER I had installed the card but before I updated the driver. Why that happened I have no idea but I was starting get very disenchanted with Fences. The fences themselves were not moved, just the icons inside them, and they stayed within the Fence.

Thanks,

Joe

1. I am using Windows 10 Version 21H1 (OS Build 19043.1645)
2. My Fences version is 4.0.7.2
3. There is no error message. The screen background just turns to black.

Please try purge and reinstall steps as mention here : [Link]. Just make sure to redownload the latest version from your account page. Reboot after the purge. Reinstall and reboot again after the installation. Retest and report back here.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Awesome, now all of my fences and folder portals are gone.

Did you try restoring from a Snapshot ?

Fences app layout and snappiing tab.

Well, that would have worked if I took a snapshot. But I didn't, so I had to rebuild them manually.

So far, my background has not gone black. We'll see what happens as I work today.

Fences should be taking automatic snapshots:

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Just wanted to add, the update to Fences appears to have fixed both the issues I had. No disappearing backgrounds, icons are staying place. 

Glad to hear it.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Windows 11 Pro v22H2 [build 22621.1555]

Dual Iiyama E2473HDS monitors

Fences v4.10

Same problem. Background screen colour changes from blue to black. Occurs when I change the view properties of a particular fence window. Happened today when I selected 'rollup' but also when setting transparency to 40%. But this has occurred previously at what appears to be random times. This is a pain but 'fixes' itself after a couple of minutes. Moving the mouse across the screen changes black back to blue. Double click removes all fences and changes both screens back to blue.

Thought 4.10 had fixed this but no.

OK

Purged Fences 4.10 which uninstalled [but kept settings and snapshots]. Re-booted Windows 11. Reinstalled Fences using [Fences4-sd-setup] downloaded today. Re-booted Windows 11. Started Fences 4.10, entered my serial number, then used my latest snapshot to reset my dual screen layouts.

Not been able to create problem by changing 'rollup' and 'opacity'. Will continue to monitor and will report back.

This problem just will not go away.  Desktop icon background will randomly just go black as I pass the mouse over them. If I right click on the screen and select "refresh" then the entire background goes black.  If I wait about 3 minutes then I can "refresh" and the background goes normal (I have it set to a blue background).  I've been back and forth on this - but Stardock apparently can not get a handle on this issue.

I run Windows 10 21H2 (19044_3086) on a Dell Precision Tower 5810 w/dual Xeon E5-1650 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti (with the latest drivers).  I have uninstalled Fences and re-installed.  I am running the latest version of fences.

Opening fences (right click on desktop >> Configure Fences) and playing with the Transparency will often trigger the problem, sometimes not at all.  I have it set to permanently opaque (no transparency).

Nothing makes the problem permanently go away.

It is super annoying.  I like fences - but sheesh - I won't keep putting up with this.  It's happened twice just while I was creating this post - some days it doesn't happen at all.  It appears to have something to do with other programs that are running at the time.

Quoting Videstra, reply 14

This problem just will not go away.  Desktop icon background will randomly just go black as I pass the mouse over them. If I right click on the screen and select "refresh" then the entire background goes black.  If I wait about 3 minutes then I can "refresh" and the background goes normal (I have it set to a blue background).  I've been back and forth on this - but Stardock apparently can not get a handle on this issue.

I run Windows 10 21H2 (19044_3086) on a Dell Precision Tower 5810 w/dual Xeon E5-1650 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti (with the latest drivers).  I have uninstalled Fences and re-installed.  I am running the latest version of fences.

Opening fences (right click on desktop >> Configure Fences) and playing with the Transparency will often trigger the problem, sometimes not at all.  I have it set to permanently opaque (no transparency).

Nothing makes the problem permanently go away.

It is super annoying.  I like fences - but sheesh - I won't keep putting up with this.  It's happened twice just while I was creating this post - some days it doesn't happen at all.  It appears to have something to do with other programs that are running at the time.

End of Videstra's quote

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Need more information on your system,

1. Fences full version number installed.
2. Any reasons you're not updating you Windows 10 to latest release version? V22H2 (OS Build 19045.3271)
3. Need your monitor/s resolution and scaling applied (100%,125%,300%)?
4. I notice you set your background to solid color,yes? As a test if you set your background to wallpaper. Does the issue still there?

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Fences version is 4.21 (checked for updates and it says this is the latest available)

Three monitors all at 2560x1440

No specific reason for not updating to V22H2 - I don't always jump to the latest version of windows since I develop software on this machine and it can be a bit risky between releases.

I will try to set it to an image of all blue and let you know.

All 3 monitors on 100% scale? Please confirm.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Yes. This is a problem that will not go away.

4.10 did not fix this. We are now on 4.21 and this problem still occurs at random times. Probably more often when viewing PDF files with Acrobat 11 and clicking on the desktop, but this is not reproducible every time.

Just to confirm; Still using Windows 11 Pro v22H2 [build 22621.1555] with dual Iiyama E2473HDS monitors using an NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 video card with the display resolution set at 1920x1080 [recommended] and 175% scale factor for text, apps and other items. Background set to a solid blue colour. Not sure what else you need to know.

Previously purged Fences which uninstalled [but kept settings and snapshots]. Re-booted Windows 11. Reinstalled Fences using [Fences4-sd-setup]. Re-booted Windows 11. Started Fences, entered my serial number, then used my latest snapshot to reset my dual screen layouts. All previously reported. Might have helped a bit, but the issue keeps occurring at random times and without any obvious cause.

Annoying but not fatal. Just thought I would remind you this is still occurring and seems to be affecting others as well.

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Just as a test, if you set a picture wallpaper instead of solid color, does the issue appear? Something like these: https://wallpapersafari.com/solid-blue-background-wallpaper/

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Yes - all three at 100%. 

Also - I have switched my background to use a BMP file (created a simple one that is the same color as the standard colored background I was using).  It's been running for at least 4 days now and I have not seen the issue.  Frankly - that's not long enough though.  I figure running for the rest of this week without the issue showing up will confirm that the issue is related to using a built-in colored background.  I will let you know.

Great, do let us know.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Ok - it's been about 5 days now.  I have not seen the issue after switching to using a BMP file as my background instead of just setting a background color.  I realize that posting this might anger the computer gods and now it will start happening again ... but just the same fences has been working without the annoying background-blackout for more than 5 days now.  

If the problem re-occurs I will let you know.

To confirm: setting the background to a "Solid Color" makes the problem appear regularly (without apparent logic)

Thank you for reporting back. I have forwarded your problem/question to Stardock Support Team for their review. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

FYI - It's been over a month now and since I changed the background color to a simple bitmap image I have not seen the issue with the icons and/or screen going black using Fences.  It would appear the issue is related to setting the Windows background to a color without using an image.