I too have experienced the same problem - an empty control panel window. Went through tech support. Tried many things to no avail. Tech support gave up as they ran out of things to try. Wish there was a solution as I like Fences very much.
A_Feest, Ditto. Always starts blank and takes a right click to immediately show the fences. Also submitted a support ticket but no response yet.
I also have Fences Pro 2 and Start8 with the identical problem. It takes a right-click on the desktop to show the fences. I have submitted a support ticket last Sunday and have not as yet received a reply. Although just an annoyance, it still needs to be resolved to work as designed.