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WB5 slows my app's load times

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WB5 slows my app's load times

Please help

from Stardock Forums
Hello!

I just bought and installed WB5 the other day, and overall I love it. However, there is one small problem - WB5 causes lots of delays on my computer. When WB5 is active, Windows takes an extra 30-60 seconds to load (I log in and get to stare at my pretty background for a while before any icons show up), and applications that used to launch instantly (Alcohol, Word, Everest, etc) now take an extra 30 seconds. If WB5 is off, they open in the blink of an eye.

Does anyone have any advice as to why this is? Is there anything I can do to speed things up?

System Specs:
AMD Athlon 64x2 4200+
2GB PC4000 RAM
Nvidia Geforce 7800GTX w/latest drivers

Thanks!
windowblinds
15,695 views 52 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'd only be guessing as to why WB does it and very honestly it might be something in WB causing it, but I just don't think it is. The only thing I would do is start troubleshooting what you know is wrong....in your case, it's having two AV apps (it doesn't matter whether there turned on or not). It sounds like ZA is probably the culprit in this....slow load ups when there's a conflict is one of it's trademarks. You should have ZA Pro installed instead, but that's not the issue for now. I think you'll find if you do a clean un-install of ZASS, your apps will work fine with WB loaded....
Reply #27 from Stardock Forums Top
@yrag: I uninstalled WB5, ZA, and SAV. I reinstalled them in several different orders, and yet it remains: With WB5 is slow, w/o is fast.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Let's make sure I have this right...at some point you had the two AV's un-installed and with just WB running, it still ran slow...yes?

I've re-read your posts and there's some info that I don't see that would be helpfull...where, exactly, did you download WB from and what version is it? In wbconfig, open System Info and copy/paste it here. Also, how many users are on this machine? There was some (some would say many) problems with some ZA versions...which flavor are you using? (might as well troubleshoot that while I'm here)
Reply #29 from Stardock Forums Top
@yrag: Yeah, I took Symantec and ZoneAlarm and WB5 completely off as a test. I put WB5 back on by itself and it slugged right up. I downloaded WB5 directly from Stardock. I'm not at my desktop right now, but I will paste the System Info up later this afternoon. Only one user on the machine, me, no network accounts, FastUserSwitching service is disabled. Using the latest version of the ZoneAlarm suite. As I said before, I really don't think ZA is the problem, as my machine runs fine with ZA and w/o WB5.
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
why not tweak your services im running wb5 with out any probs & when i click task manager it only says i have 22 tasks running i tweaked my services but z/a is a resource hog so is symantec im lucky 1 im enjoying windows live onecare
Reply #31 from Stardock Forums Top
why not tweak your services im running wb5 with out any probs & when i click task manager it only says i have 22 tasks running i tweaked my services but z/a is a resource hog so is symantec im lucky 1 im enjoying windows live onecare


Been there, done that - 12 running processes, 10 or so services.
Reply #32 from Stardock Forums Top
Here is the System Info from WIndowblinds:

STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+ TRAY+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

You have one monitor in total.

(SyncMaster 940T/940B,SyncMaster Magic CX914B(Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX

Wblind.dll 2005/11/28 13:57:10
Wbsrv.dll 2005/11/28 15:52:00
Wbconfig.exe 2005/11/28 16:19:00
Wbload.exe 2005/11/25 19:30:58
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 15:37:00
Wbui.dll 2005/11/20 12:23:40
Tray.dll 2005/11/02 13:28:26
Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Download and install SDC (Stardock Central) http://storage.stardock.com/files/sdcentral_setup.exe Register whatever you bought in lower right of SDC and check 'Show pre-release Versions' in lower left. In SDC/ Settings/ General; un-check both MCP options. Using SDC, install the newest WB version and re-boot on prompt. After the re-boot, apply/test the Aura skin.
Reply #34 from Stardock Forums Top
@yrag: Ok, Downloaded, Installed, Updated, Rebooted.

Some programs have returned to their normal load times, but there are a few programs which are very small in size that still take 20+ seconds to load up. There is also still a 30sec pause after logging in..
Reply #35 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Thats certainly not normal. 

Could you open a command prompt.  Type tasklist /M > log.txt and e-mail that log.txt to neil@stardock.com please.

Reply #37 from Stardock Forums Top
Thats certainly not normal.

Could you open a command prompt. Type tasklist /M > log.txt and e-mail that log.txt to neil@stardock.com please.


I sent it earlier today Neil. Did you get it?
Reply #38 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Raerea: There have been reports of UltraMon causing high cpu usage.  Disabling one of the options (window dragging related I believe) should resolve this, but we are unable to reproduce ourselves.

HopkinsProg: Yes thanks.

Reply #39 from Stardock Forums Top
Just so you know, this morning, WB5 crapped out on me. It keeps giving me the "You must reboot before using this version of WindowBlinds".

WHY?!? !

What can I do to fix this? Will reinstalling help?

Edit: No, reinstalling did not help... I can load WB5 now, but it won't apply any skins...

Edit2: After 7 full uninstalls, aided by the zapper thingy, 7 reinstalls, and multiple SDC updates, I finally got things back up and running. But geez... wtf? Why'd that happen?
Reply #40 from WinCustomize Forums Top
That is strange.  That message means either wbsrv has been deleted / corrupted on the PC, OR the registry keys for that dll have been wiped out. 
Reply #41 from Stardock Forums Top
Can't imagine why it would popup. I haven't changed any settings since before the install.
Reply #42 from Stardock Forums Top
WB5 died again today. This is really making me dislike the program.
Reply #43 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Its not WB doing anything, it sounds like something on your PC damaging the WB registry keys.

When it happens open regedit & look at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\WBSrv (might be \WB not \WBSrv depending on OS).  Are there any keys there?

Reply #44 from Stardock Forums Top
It happened again today. The key "WBSrv" does not even exist.
Reply #45 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Thats the problem then.  An app on your PC is deleting those keys.

I would look at any antispyware /antivirus applications on your PC as they are the most likely thing to start incorrectly deleting registry keys without user permission.

If its happening on a pattern, look for any scans etc set.

Reply #46 from Stardock Forums Top
I use apps, like Spybot & Ad-Aware, but I haven't run them since before the Jan 20th WB5 crash. Zonealarm is setup to scan manually and isn't showing any entires in its spyware log. I don't think Symantec Corporate AV 10 would do it, do you?

I am offically at a loss.
Reply #47 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I don't think Symantec Corporate AV 10 would do it, do you?

I personally wouldn't be surprised....Symantec isn't the cleverest of products....

Reply #49 from Stardock Forums Top
No, not after every reboot. It seems kinda randomish. I don't seem to be doign anything different from one day to the next.
Reply #50 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Processor usage stays very low (except when I just unloaded WB5, got stuck @ 100% usage, and jammed)


Both cores?