No response from stardock

from WinCustomize Forums
First, let me say that I have nothing but good things to say in general about Stardock products, WinCustomize and all the great skinners here, and this is NOT at all about bashing anyone. But the problem I have had on several occasions has been in writing to Stardock support and never receiving a response back other than the auto response. And I should add that I have been very patient and waited over a week for a response, rather than the 3 business days suggested, and which is now almost 2 weeks.

I have an ongoing problem the started after installing the newest version of WindowBlinds4.19. I have had several people here make suggestions in trying to fix this problem but nothing has worked as of yet. The problem is that after I updated/installed WB's4.19b, and then tried to open it, I keep getting a "WBload.exe has encountered a problem and has to close" which also then renders WB's3.51 inoperable as well and I have to uninstall all WB's and start all over again. This all began after downloading the Beta version of WB's4.19. I have uninstalled, zapped, rebooted, and reinstalled several times and still have the problem.

If this problem cannot be resolved, will it be possible to download a stand alone version of WindowBlinds4.19 so that WindowBlinds3.51 is not continually corrupted and I have to re-download things all over again and again? I would also appreciate knowing who the big cheeses are at both Stardock and WinCustomize, as in who I would contact to get the answers needed for problems.
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6,934 views 31 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You have two versions of WB installed on the same OS?
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Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No...well at least I don't think so. When I first downloaded Stardock Central I've always seen 2 versions, WB's & WB's4. Like right now I see WB's3.51 & WB's4.19. Since they were both there I always assumed they were suppose to be there. I haven't downloaded the 4.19 version again because of the ongoing problem, so the only version I have now is the 3.51 version.
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WindowBlinds - Free yourself of the default settings, customize your desktop.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
3.51 is still showing for the OS users that could not use WB 4 prior to the update that now supports most Window systems...You need to un-install everything that even smells like WB...I don't care what version it is. After you un-install save your 'themes' folder to a temp folder and completely delete the WindowBlind folder. Do a search and make sure there is nothing left pertaining to WB except that temp folder. Re-boot. Install WB 4 beta thru SDC and move saved folder back and re-boot again. It should now work....let me know



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Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ok Yrag...thanks. I will try that. And one more ? Shouldn't the older version of WB's be removed from stardock central when you install the newer version? Like when they removed the version of WebBlinds?
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Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No...it will still show and there are people who don't want to use a beta, so it's kept in. Just leave it sit there as available and install 4.19 beta version only.



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Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
yeah, I think yrag is right (again ) just 1 version, if it still dasn't work uninstall it completely and reinstall.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If I have a problem with any update installation, then I use an easy fix, maybe it will work for you.

Goto the following C:\Program Files\Object Desktop\Windoblinds\

look for the following file and run it >> ODINST.EXE and let it overwrite everything

Only use the ODINST.EXE in the WindoBlinds folder NOT any other.


It works here, I hope it works for you




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Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks Yrag...that did the trick... ...all is well now with WB4. And it even skins my Standby/logoff/Restart dialog. That was something WB3.51 didn't do. I should have thought of that, but since I've seen versions of other things in Stardock Central over written with newer versions I just figured the same would happen with the WB versions if it was neccessary. And thanks for the suggestion Stumpy...I'll keep that in mind if I should run into a problem with anything else, but I'm glad to report that I have had very few problems with anything else.


Ok, back to the drawing board...When I reinstalled WB4 last night, and restarted my PC everything was working fine...now this morning I started my PC...clicked on WB4 to open it up and I'm back to the "WBload.exe encountered a problem and has to close" again. My windows are still skinned, but I can't open WB4 to make any changes. So...does anyone have any more ideas? I will try this one that Stumpy posted and see what happens for now.

Now here is a strange one...I just went looking for the file stumpy was talking about and I see that WB3.51 has reinstalled itself?? I know I uninstalled it last night but it's back again. What could be the problem with that?! How can I get WB3.51 completely erased from Stardock Central...any ideas?
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Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Another update...I just uninstalled WB4 and tried to re-uninstall WB3.51 but it said there was a problem uninstalling it. So...I next brought up the zapper to let it do it's thing and WB's was not even listed!? It was however listed under the "unload" tab of the zapper. Well, I wasn't quite sure if I should try that just yet so I restarted my PC and when I brought up the zapper again WB's wasn't listed anywhere. Now when I go to the software in SDC both versions of WB's "appear" to be uninstalled. So it seems now that when I go to install WB4, WB3.51 is getting reinstalled right along with it. So any suggestions as to where I go from here?


OK, just saw in my Add/Remove that WB's is still listed there as...I'm assuming...installed, so should I go ahead with the remove of this and THEN reinstall? Or should I just go shove my head in a bucket and hope it's all fixed in the morning?...lol
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Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top


Ok...and I went to find this ODINST.exe file and it's not there. And another thing is that even though it says WindowBlinds is not installed there are still files in the WindowBlinds folder. Is this some I need to somehow uninstall as well, which I have no idea how to do.
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Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
OK, if you are still having problems try this.. If both versions of WB show as un-installed in SDC browse to C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object Desktop\WindowBlinds and as was suggested before copy ALL of your skin directories to a temporary location. once you've done this completely delete the Windowblinds folder.. If it won't let you delete it completely reboot and then completely delete it.. Now, go ahead and select the Windowblinds 4 version in SDC and select install. Let it do its thing and then reboot. It's highly unlikely that 3.51 is getting installed along with 4.19 because if that were happening there would be lots of other folks with these problems.

In order to hide 3.51, in SDC select View->Show/Hide Applications, scroll down and un-select Windowblinds and leave Windowblinds 4 selected. Now you should only have one version showing in your programs list.

Just as a side note, how did you install WB 3.51 originally? Did you install it as a separate download or have you always installed it from SDC or its predecessor? If you installed it separately then you will need to make sure it is no longer listed in your Windows Add/Remove programs, if it is listed there then you need to remove it from there.

Good Luck and I hope this helps out some!!



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Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

webgizmos, you would have better luck getting this resolved with the support means that are listed in that auto response.

Uninstall WindowBlinds then reboot (use the zapper tool if needed).  Look for wbload.exe and delete any that you find.  I would guess that you have two WB's installed.

Reboot, use Stardock Central to install the most current version of WindowBlinds.  If you are still getting the error on reboot, there must be something heinous that is also loading on startup that is doing bad things to WindowBlinds.

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Davebo: KarmaGirl IS Stardock's head of tech support. What more do you want?
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad: maybe he wants everthing on a silver platter...


KG is the top head huncho for support I know that now.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thnaks for all the info f0r3....much appreciated


Hi KarmaGirl...one question before I start deleteing all the Wbload.exe files I find, is this file specific to WindowBlinds?

And to give you a rundown on how things got to this point.

After I purchased the ObjectDesktop software, all I did was download it, install SDC and allow it to do whatever updates were offered when opening SDC. Everything worked fine up until the point where I clicked on "show pre-release versions" and it showed the Beta version of WB's4. And yes, WB3.51 was still installed. From everything I've read so far after the problem started I can see that it most likely should have been uninstalled. I assumed that since when everything else in SDC was updated or outdated the previous version was removed that the same would have applied to WB's, so that was a mistake on my part. I also still have WebBlinds listed in my folders so I removed that as well as all references to WindowBlinds. The last thing I will do is remove the listing of WindowBlinds in my Add/Remove, which as I said I have no idea how it got in there since it's suppose to be part of ObjectDesktop, and I assume it would only be there if it was a stand alone program.

I will wait to see your reply to my question about the WBload.exe file before I do anything else. And thanks for all your help KarmaGirl...it's much appreciated
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
one question before I start deleteing all the Wbload.exe files I find, is this file specific to WindowBlinds?

I'm not Angie, but I can answer this one........... Yes!





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Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks Wizop Koasati!

Should I also delete/remove all references to wbload.exe from my registry as well?
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Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
webgizmos - First of all 'WindowBlinds' is a stand alone and can be un-installed thru the add/remove section in control panel. Second, there are two listings in SDC for WindowBlinds. One has the beta version and the other has the 3.51 listed. Do not go near the 3.51 listing. When you update (or install) WB only use the one listing the 4.X series and the other one when take care of itself when you re-boot.......

...just read your edit....do yourself (and us) a favor and stay away from the registry



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Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ok Yrag...just so I got this straight. Even though all these programs are listed in SDC that doesn't mean they aren't stand alone programs? I was under the assumption that everything listed in SDC was dealt with from there and weren't stand alone unless I download the program seperately from the others.

And what I've done so far is this...I've uninstalled both WB3.51 & WB4...deleted the WB folder...used the zapper...removed Wb's from my Add/Remove...and deleted all references to wbload.exe...and rebooted my system. At this point I haven't reinstalled anything until I have all WB's removed from everywhere it should be removed from. Anything you see here I may have missed? And no problem staying away from the registry, if I had to remove something I think I understand doing that enough to do it, but would rather not mess with it if I don't have to.

And as always...your input is much appreciated!
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Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Some Stardock proggies are listed in Add/Remove because they can be had as stand alone programs. Having said that, you can install and un-install thru SDC without reverting to the Control Panel.

If you have un-installed WB completely and you open SDC, it should show as I described above and you can install as instructed.



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Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ok, I got ya...I'm going to try and do a reinsatll of WB4 now and hopefully I got all bases covered this time. I wanted to make sure I got everything removed correctly.

Thanks again for all your help Yrag...your a gentlemen and a scholar And that goes for everyone else that had some input to give regarding this problem...My thanks to them as well.
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Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ok...back to the drawing board After uninstalling Wb & Wb4 again...Zapping... deleting the wbload.exe files...doing the Add/Remove of WB's...hiding the WB3.51 version in SDC...rebooting...and reinstalling WB4...it worked again...I applied a skin...and then when I restarted my PC and tried to open WB's4 again I was right back to square one. So I'm game for any more ideas as to what could be causing this.

And for the record...this PC is only a few months old and SDC is the only program I've downloaded. And as I said before, everything was working fine untill I downloaded the beta version of Wb4.

So...what would be the more drastic measure of restoring it back to a working program? Deleting all of SDC & ObjectDesktop and starting from scratch?
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Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
When you try to open WB, are you using WBload.exe or WBconfig.exe? I assume it's starting up OK on re-boot and goes south when you try to change skin.



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