Neil Banfield Neil Banfield

Please Read this if your UI is black and painting slowly

Please Read this if your UI is black and painting slowly

If you have installed a pirate copy (AKA cracked) version of WindowBlinds 5, please be aware that the crack is faulty and WindowBlinds will cease to function correctly on your computer.

To fix this you just need to uninstall WB and if you wish install a purchased copy of WB, or the trial.

To uninstall, you can either wait for your computer to login, unload WB (either using wbconfig, display properties, or from a command prompt calling WBLOAD UNLOAD) and then uninstall WB.  Or you can boot into safe mode & uninstall WB from there.

Your computer has not been harmed in anyway.  Whoever made the crack did a poor job and patched out code that causes WindowBlinds to no longer be able to paint bitmaps (so title bars, borders, everything will be black).

323,784 views 239 replies +1 Loading…
Reply #151 Top
Someone [Maybe i should] make a false windowblinds and spread it on the Gnutella networks, messing with those cheap punks' systems.


To make a false WindowBlinds - even if it were purely intended to mess up 'cheap punks' systems - is illegal and no better than someone doing it for profit/a free service, just because they can.

Knowingly creating software to trash anothers' machine is criminal, as is piracy....so doing it would be doubly criminal.

Sure, piracy is annoying to those of us who've purshased our sofware legally, but this needs a rethink cos it's not the answer.
Reply #152 Top
o make a false WindowBlinds - even if it were purely intended to mess up 'cheap punks' systems - is illegal and no better than someone doing it for profit/a free service, just because they can.

Knowingly creating software to trash anothers' machine is criminal, as is piracy....so doing it would be doubly criminal.

Sure, piracy is annoying to those of us who've purshased our sofware legally, but this needs a rethink cos it's not the answer.


Good point, and thats all true. It would still be funny though, little punks!
Reply #153 Top
Good point, and thats all true. It would still be funny though, little punks!


Okay, if we're gonna teach these punks a lesson, let's go the whole hog....

....hack dials Pentagon, WhiteHouse puters...Stormtrooper tactics from C.I.A, F.BI. and S.W.A.T. demolish house to access/confiscate puter, arrest owners.....

....code some explosives into the crack, set to detonate when ctrl-alt-del is pressed.

Or better still...the crack calls in a F14 to unload a couple of 'bunkerbusters' on 'current location'



Reply #154 Top
Starkers will get a knock at the door just for thinking of such a devious plan.
Reply #155 Top
I have a working version on may be 10 pc's....They dont paint black just laugh at you that buy a product thats so easy to crk.  
Reply #156 Top
I have a working version on may be 10 pc's....They dont paint black just laugh at you that buy a product thats so easy to crk


oooooh. I'm impressed.
Reply #157 Top

oooooh. I'm impressed.

I wasn't....

Reply #158 Top
I have a working...blah blah blah...thats so easy to crk.


Wow... a real, live moron. Cool!
Reply #160 Top
...and "Wow!" again! A moron who's sooooo smart he can create another user profile!!! Wish I was as smart as you.

Off you go now, and enjoy your stolen software, you skanky little thief.
Reply #161 Top

he can create another user profile

Sorted....

Reply #162 Top
does stardock do anything about the cracks?
are they allowed?
Reply #163 Top

does stardock do anything about the cracks?
are they allowed?

Yes.

No....

Reply #164 Top
My WB is original but in the last days it doesn't work and it appears black. Now I've uninstalled it and, since seems there's not a solutions, GOODBYE.
Reply #165 Top
Goodbye....
Reply #166 Top
I am getting that and i have a copy that was sent to me on CD From Stardock.I am usu=9ng a Nvidia Geforce 7950 GX2also done it with a 7600GT.

Reply #167 Top
I am getting that and i have a copy that was sent to me on CD From Stardock.I am usu=9ng a Nvidia Geforce 7950 GX2also done it with a 7600GT.


Please post your system info from the WB config
Reply #168 Top
I went through this thread and actually had a good laugh when I was reading some replies here. (ref to the ones who are prefering cracked/hacked versions).
They are so proud that they finally could find a working crack...... and a couple of days later, they have to bring their computer to a shop to repair the damage the malware/spyware and viruses caused, which were downloaded and installed while visiting these cracksites.
Costs you much more than $20!

"Wow, I've found a working crack! -- And now my system is toast and my passwords are known!"

Just think twice and buy the software you like.
Reply #169 Top
Pirates from this day foreword will be known as clamps or Industrial cessionaries (people who cause Industrial espionage) by stealing from the producers they are effectively reducing the company’s capacity to grow.
In other words Industrial Espionage.

By stealing from the small manufacturers Microsoft & Apple will always be your only choice. It’s your choice
Piracy and stealing software drives the prices of software up dramatically do you realise that if there was no piracy Microsoft and Mac software may well be the same price more likely than not. But software from 2nd and 3rd party would be not even half the price it is now.

It is not until you use a fully functional purchased version of most 2nd and
3rd party developer’s products that you realise the amount of time and capacity that they require to hold the amount of infrastructure.
Some people just take that for granted. Instead of being greedy yourself how about contributing to the wages of the many developers that put in their free time to help by way of excitement to produce or help produce a fun product feature full with the features you love.
Savings made in production are always passed on to us in new products and lower prices are negotiated with other partners so that those savings can also be passed on to us

Hey Software stealing is extremely bad. Why do you steal software from people just like you? “Do you like it” well then pay for it. You Bogans why not just go to your bank if you do not have a visa card get a visa debit card don’t require or have credit checks.Deposit the amount of money into the Visa Debit account you would like to spend online. And hey presto when the cops do come and finally raid you for having bogus software and they take their time but they do come BELIEVE IT. Did you know this YOU CAN NOT HIDE?
If you used pirated or software that has been cracked yesterday or last week or last year right back to about the second week in November 2001 you will be caught if some of you remember there was a worldwide rule announced their is one punishment IN THE WESTERN WORLD PENALTIES DIFFER FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY globally for PETTY software thieves your chances of using a computer or being allowed within arms length of a (pcd) personal communications device are nil for 5 years. Can you really imagine yourself after being jailed for 6 months for a minor offence but 5 to 11 years for software piracy for Personal monetary gain? Oh I am sick of people stealing what we have designed when I say us I say you and me you are literally stealing from your self.

Any way in the base of a large government Federal convening house in Australia there are massive corridors in all about 250 Meters long
There are 166 corridors’ 27 meters below the government building standing atop of it with a massive Flag on it and a putting green. On the roof
Along these 166 250 meter long corridors are two storeys of servers about 34 million that’s a lot of heat which is why it was built in the coolest state with the lowest population.
These plans were way ahead of their time it was built way back when computers and communications were probably far from even thinking what they are now. Built In the last 25 years
The purpose is this. I am not sure of the exact date in 2001 it started BUT every single cookie you have on your pc or have had on your pc they also have and to each cookie is assigned visited server username/software downloaded/title/speed time taken/servers/routed many times every single node is traced back thorough to your PC via your ISP that still is or used to be also a person sitting behind a keyboard and that person is you.

Haven’t you ever looked into why you computer is continuously sending data as you are downloading data or sending data while you are surfing the web. The truth is this if you have pirate software or are using codes from a WAREZ site you do not have long before the government requires more revenue/MOOLA/Cash/Your pay/your assets/.
Server farms trade information at any given time of the day night non peak periods so I am assuming that by now they have got any person who has been stupid enough to have a software title that does not have the sheet page attached to their software in the government server. WHAT IS A SHEET PAGE? A SHEET PAGE IS THIS. When you download software there are features it has attached to it like auto update/ most common now are features designed so that you’re Personal Computer and I stress PERSONAL COMPUTER /SOMEONE OWNS IT /IT DOES NOT MATTER IN SETUP IF YOU CALLED Your PC Personal Computer The daemon eater, neo Morpheus, RITA, ROB, WOLFMAN John The Baptist, Peter Money, Harder Coder, Someone owns it. At some stage the pc may connect or is already connected to the www or corporate network that is then connected to the www.
Some people think their Norton antivirus will stop all outbound communications with a prompt this is not so.
In virus and firewall software most of these features are not complained about by the fire wall or blocking scanners as they are never registered with the Virus manufacturer databases build as any threat whatsoever and usually have a name similar to that of another software component on your Very own Personal Computer so most users will fail to look through the peep hole and open the door even wider.

We all share our resources’, some expect small donations or fees, recognition for the software they have built for god sake I have been writing and submitting parts of software and ideas I just could not bring to fruition and to small software developers under a false name. Because I am afraid of claiming this or that was my idea at a later date most of it became shareware with many features.
I still pay for it and do you know what it feels good to be able to steer people on the direction of what is good without money. But understand this when small companies like when stardock started out and communities worldwide communities communicate their ideas we create something that is created from our communicated vision It is us who developed the idea of OSX Interface and it is Us that developed the idea of the New Vista Interface if any or all of you could only see that we are the ones that have steered the interface war in the direction that it has gone and for many of the small software manufacturers that acknowledge the hard work and time that is given by Us the you and the me by selling us fully functioning software that we want at a low price.

If they did not really want it they would not spend their time writing bypass or using a stolen regkey and the excuse that oh it’s a challenge to get a free ride is a poor and feeble excuse to rip the little guys off.
I do not condone software theft from small or large companies or corporations however I will admit I have used a fairly well know OS at one stage free of charge for about 8 to 10 months I then went out and purchased a new computer with it installed. I always use the free trial right up until the last day and if I use it that long which is usually 30 days if you use your PC often that’s enough time to decide on 30 days


Reply #170 Top
So are you going to post your system info or what?
Reply #171 Top
Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #173 Top
You were the one who asked the question...
Reply #175 Top
Jeep, your quote of Frogboy is absolutely correct - but you got the statement totally backwards. For instance Galactic Civilization II has no copy protection at all. Here's one post where you can read a bit about it: https://forums.galciv2.com/index.aspx?forumid=161&aid=106741&c=1