WB5 Problems/Bugs

from Stardock Forums

Hey guys, thought I'd list a few bugs in WB5 (latest .001 version) that apperently you guys haven't found yet.


1) IE "Favorites" menu does not skin and also has ">" arrows for actual links instead of folders w/subfolders.


2) Real Player.  When you launch it and it starts there is no txt on any of the menu dropdowns.  You actually have to go to File and the pick a choice that has a submenu and then they all show up for all menu options.


3) Using AMD Turion 64 ML30 in my Acer Ferrari.  With WB5 loaded the proc is locked at 1.6 or 2.0GHz, but mostly at 2.0GHz.  This is not normal.  The CPU has the ability to drop down to 800MHz if there isn't a lot of use.  With no throttleing still available it's obviously killing the battery time on the laptop.  There's no CPU pegging, but something is causing the CPU to max itself out at highest setting.  BTW, when you unload WB5 it goes back to normal opperation.  Obviously a WB5 problem.


4) Skin console windows!!!  What is the deal with that?  The feature was available in WB4.x for as long as I can remember.  Why in the world would you take this out in a recent release?  That's just "stupid" for a lack of a better term.  Find a way to put it back please... this feature alone is one of the ones that made WB better then the other skinning apps out there.  You just killed your #1 feature benefit.


5) Fix the WIFI left window skinning.  How hard is it to fix this?


Overall, I think version 4.6 was way better then 5.0.  I don't know why you released this version with so many problems.  Maybe it's because none of your users do good BETA testing.  There are obviously a lot of things you will need to fix in this version before it'll hold a candle to 4.6.  For now, I'm keeping my desktop at 4.6 instead of updating to 5.0.


Fix these problems please.

windowblinds
5,389 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
1) IE "Favorites" menu does not skin and also has ">" arrows for actual links instead of folders w/subfolders


Any screen shot for this problem and which skin is causing problem(s)? I have checked and found no problem.

2) Real Player. When you launch it and it starts there is no txt on any of the menu dropdowns. You actually have to go to File and the pick a choice that has a submenu and then they all show up for all menu options.


Valid problem!!! Skinning engine of Real Player has some issues with WB Skinning engine.

Solution: Goto Per Application section in WB Config window and click on "Add Per Application Setting" and browse to the folder where you have installed RealPlayer (typlically C:\Program Files\Real\RealPlayer\realplay.exe) and from the "settings" pannel select "Ignore the application and donot skin it". Click OK and (re)start RealPlayer.


3) Using AMD Turion 64 ML30 in my Acer Ferrari. With WB5 loaded the proc is locked at 1.6 or 2.0GHz, but mostly at 2.0GHz. This is not normal. The CPU has the ability to drop down to 800MHz if there isn't a lot of use. With no throttleing still available it's obviously killing the battery time on the laptop. There's no CPU pegging, but something is causing the CPU to max itself out at highest setting. BTW, when you unload WB5 it goes back to normal opperation. Obviously a WB5 problem.


Complitely Noob in this matter ... hope-fully Mike or Neil will see this thread very soon ... It is their work ...

4) Skin console windows!!! What is the deal with that? The feature was available in WB4.x for as long as I can remember. Why in the world would you take this out in a recent release? That's just "stupid" for a lack of a better term. Find a way to put it back please... this feature alone is one of the ones that made WB better then the other skinning apps out there. You just killed your #1 feature benefit.


Consol Skinning option has some issues with the method per-pixel alpha blending is applied. This issue will be resolved in future builds (hopefully in next one) and consols will have their skins back

5) Fix the WIFI left window skinning. How hard is it to fix this?


Again, ScreenShot and skin information will be very helpfull.



Overall, I think version 4.6 was way better then 5.0. I don't know why you released this version with so many problems. Maybe it's because none of your users do good BETA testing. There are obviously a lot of things you will need to fix in this version before it'll hold a candle to 4.6. For now, I'm keeping my desktop at 4.6 instead of updating to 5.0.


I think you would be aware of Microsoft, a company which makes Operating Systems for IBM competible Personal Computers and other software as well; also thought to be the world's LARGEST private limited bussines entity. In 2001, it launched a newer version of its Operation System and named it "Windows XP", which is thought to be the PERFECT and MOST COMPLETE, FLAW-LESS OperationSystem for PC Users. And for this perfect OS, more than 5,000 major fixes, and some of them are more dangerous to it than to those for which they have been created, and 2 Serive Packs have been released along with a 3rd SerivePack is about to be out.

Hope you have understood what I mean.

You are not living in the perfect world (Utopia) where every thing is flaw-less and fault proof. you are LIVING in real world where problems, errors, suggestions, and experiments play. Infact, problems and issues are the best tools for learning once you know them and ready to get rid of them.



I do THANK YOU for your hardwork and interest ... This is what we need to improve our products.

For you: A life with errors and failures is not good but it IS far far better then the life with nothing ..

Best wishes
BX
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Here's the screen shots for both of the problem listed above that you asked about.



http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wMTE0NjgwNTZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg



Pic above you can see that Favorites is not skinned and that Tools as well as the other menus are.  Also, this is not skin dependant.  ALL skins do this.  The one used is StealthOS.



http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wMTE0NjgwNjZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg



This screen shot show the WIFI screen issues.  Again, same skin.  Also, when I last talked to SD on the phone they stated that this problem's been arround for a while and they don't know when they will fix it.  Gota love that response...


As for the living in a bug free world...  I don't think that applies here because some of these issues are so obvious ANYONE would see them in about 5 minutes of using WB5 on their system.  It's simply something that should have been taken care of while in BETA.  I'm not saying it's the end of the world, but unless people are just not looking at everything while in BETA there's really no excuse.  Also as to the "excluding programs" thing for Real Player to solve the problem... WB4.6 doesn't have this issue.  That's really where my main gripes are comming from.  A newly released version (which is an upgrade from the previous) should not have bugs for common things that weren't problems in the old version.  It's almost like saying they started from "Zero" with a clean slate when they started developing WB5.  That's just asking for these kinds of problems.  Anyway, like I said, I'm just contributing to the list of issues that apperently most people are missing.  Hope my reports help in solving these issues quicker.

TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Regarding the cpu speed issue: Does this happen with all skins.  I.e. non per pixel ones too?
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Tried both Retro and Fresco and it pegs the CPU at 2.0GHz.  I tried all the skins that come with WB5 and they all do it.  It seems that if WB5 is "loaded" it definatly pegs the CPU speed.  Windows Classic and Windows XP Style don't do it, but I imagine that WB5 gets unloaded when those skins are applied.  I imagine this happens because I've set my "Themes" service to Manual/Stopped and if I try to apply the Windows XP Style in WB5 it just closes the WB5 window, but doesn't activate the skin.  This tells me that Classic and XP both use the default XP Theme service and not the WB5 subsystem.  Tell me if I'm wrong, but that how I see it working.



So, yeah, all skins do this... it's definatly WB5.  I can't tell you if a Centrino Intel CPU would behave the same, but I bet it would... or at least it's worth testing on it if you have easier access to that technology.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

I did some tests on a desktop AMD64 with its 'cool'n'quiet' support and the cpu dropped back to 50% correctly with WB.

Does your laptop have integrated graphics?  I am wondering if WB5s extra use of this is making it think the machine is busy as clearly WB isn't actually using any cpu (taskmanager should show this)

We will check if anyone in the office has one of those chips in a laptop.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Nope... Acer Ferrari hardware as follows.




AMD Turion64 2.0GHz




ATI x700 Video w/128MB




1GB DDR333




100GB HD



 



I can't vouch for desktop support of CPU speed dropsdowns, but I'll bet you'll have better luck with testing on a laptop.  The Intel ones also step down like this... it's mostly a laptop function to save battery power.  I know any of the ones with Centrino branding drop proc speed based on work being done on them... you just have to test and make sure that it does peg and drop the cpu speed by running something that pegs the cpu high to force it to peg the speed.  Games usually do this or play 2 videos at the same time.

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The real player menu issue is now resolved in the beta build on OD.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I cannot get the user overides advanced section to set the tasskbar to do "always on top" for double click or right click. Always wants to minimize for me for some reason.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Per pixel skins do not support the always on top, minimize to tray and send to bottom overrides.