butchmcneill

That link was very informative. I also have Ashampoo (WinOptimizer28) and it has a "Free Space" module. I was able to add the folder C:\ProgramDate\Stardock" to the folder exemption list. I can't seem to find that type of an exemption feature in CleanGenius. I'll keep looking, but for now I think I try running Ashampoo Free Space module when checking for junk file, and folders. Thanks for the link to a very similar problem, even though it was a few years ago, it'

Hi Basj, I use EaseUS CleanGenius to clean what it considers Junk files. It set to notify me if it find 7GB of Junk files. I tried running it again, but it didn't cause any problems with de-activating any of my Stardock apps. I checked the files it considered junk, and again I didn't see any reference to any of the Stardock apps. Hope this helps. Thanks, Gordon

Thanks for suggestions, basj. I was finally able to get MP Pro4 working again, by uninstalling it from all my PCs, main and remote, and reinstalling it and re-setting encryption names and passwords. As far as having to re-activate all Stardock Apps., I'll have to go along with you regarding running file cleanup app. I've done it in the past, with no problems, but that's the only explanation I can come up with, other than doing the Windows 11 Update. Since, no one else

Forgot to add, that yes I did run a file cleanup app yesterday. I forgot about it, because from time to time I get a notification to run it and I just say yes. I've run it in the past, never had to reactivate any Stardock Apps to my knowledge. And as far as the Multiplicity problem, I did a complete uninstall and reinstall, which didn't help. And I also did all the normal things as well SFC, Dism. etc. I pretty much do those things on a weekly basis anyway.

Last Update was yesterday 2026-01-13 @ Approx 22:30 (EST):2026-01 Security Update (KB5074109)(26200.7623) Other half of question. Why can I no longer access my 3 remote PC's using Multiplicity 4 Pro. That also was working as of 2026-01-12. KVM and Seamless Display are both grayed out? Thanks Again, Gordon

After restarting my PC this morning, I got a Start 11 Activation Window, don't know why. I reactivated it, but several options had changed. I tried Fences 6, same thing. After double clicking I got the Activate Fences Window, I reactivated it as well. The same thing occurred with Deskscapes & Multiplicity 4 Pro. I reactivated them as well. Deskscapes works as it always did, but not Multiplicity 4 Pro. It activated, but KVM Pro & Seamless Displ

Hi Loffel, I started this post back in October because I had been fighting this problem for months prior to going to Stardock Forum for help. I tried Microsoft Windows forum and tried all the normal stuff that their "MVP" told me to try, which by the way I had already tried prior to contacting them: SFC, DISM, Clean Boot, Default BIOS, Updating all drivers, etc... My last resort with Windows Forum was a suggestion byt the "MVP" to do a clean install of Windows 11 Pro, that

After I did the clean install I still had the hanging problem with Deskscapes and my 2 monitors, without Start 11. But since my last reply, after installing the latest Windows 11 update of Version 25H2, and reinstalling Start 11, I haven't had an explorer.exe hang in over a week. I'm still not convinced the problem is gone, because I've had long periods of time without the error before. But, so far, this is one of the longest periods error free.

Hi JaSunni, No, I haven't filed a support ticket. I'm kind of watching for now. I installed the latest update of Start 11 and I updated the latest Windows 11 Version 25H2 Build 26200.7019 and I haven't had a hanging error so far. I'm waiting, because the last time I thought the problem cleared, it came back after 1 week so I'm in the wait and see mode right now. Start11 had mention some of the fixes had something to do with dual monitors, maybe the combinatio

I kinda agree. I uninstalled and reinstalled Deskscapes again and just kept one monitor running and it worked great. I add the Time/Date option, which caused the problem before, but it's been running without errors so far. Like you, I noticed since updating to Win.11 Version 25H2 things seem to be running a little better. Another thing that kind of makes me think Deskscapes has a problem with Dual monitors, is because after I did a clean install of Windows 11, I ran

Thanks for the information. That's one thing I haven't tried. I'll try making a new Playlist and just put static backgrounds in it and see what happens. I did notice, as did JaSunni, that the hang usually happens when changing backgrounds. Ever since I added and removed the Date/Time option the hangs are more frequent now, really adding more confusion to the problem. Again thanks for the added information.

Hello basj, I have a question that may help me find my hanging problem. After completely removing Deskscapes, Start11 & Fences 6 and installing latest version of Deskscapes,ONLY, I ran clean for 5 days. I added the Date/Time/CPU & Mem Usage options to both displays last night and this morning I got my first hanging error. Since you're not experiencing the problem do you have Start 11 and/or Fences loaded on you displays and since I know you're running Desksca

Hello JaSunni, I have a question for you. By any chance do you have the time/date display on your desktop displayed from the Deskscapes app? I asking because I was running error for about 5 days and I decided to add the date/time/cpu & mem display to my desktop. I've always had it previously displayed so I added again. Today I got my first hanging error. I removed the display now I have to watch again. Let me know if you enabled that option on D

That's what I'm going to do. If I go error free for a couple more days I'm going to re-install Start 11, but given the choice between the two, I'll keep Deskscapes, I enjoy the animated backgrounds, and also the static backgrounds as well. From reading a lot online about this trouble I've found a lot of things about Windows 11 and the taskbar being the root of a lot of problems. So if I do re-install Start 11 I'm going to try tweaking the taskbar settings to see if that he

Hi JaSunni, Sorry to hear you're having the same problem, but it makes me feel better that i"m not the only one. I've been working on this problem for around 6 month on and off. I read online that the taskbar sometimes causes the hanging problem, but I checked all my settings and removed the taskbar from my secondary monitor and that didn't help. I know it has something to do with dual monitors, because when I switched back to a single monitor the problem stopped.</p

Thanks again for your help. I've been fighting this like I said for over 6 months now, with different versions of Start11 and Fences6. Deskscapes11 hasn't had any recent updates for a while, but I'm am running the latest version from my account. Right now I've completely uninstalled Start11, Fences6 and Deskscapes11. I did a thorough Uninstall using Revo-Uninstaller. I Just reinstalled the latest Version of Deskscapes11 from my account and I'm going to run it alone, wi

Hello, Sorry, but the explorer.exe is still hanging. I checked the Event Viewer again and, as usual, I get 2 information events and 1 error event with the same date/time stamp. One of the information events generates the minidump file. I analyzed the dump file using "windbg", and near the bottom of the analysis, under process name, it always shows "DSHost.exe". I'm going to try disabling Deskscape service using msconfig, and remove any Deskscape extensions in

Under performance, that's the setting I already had. I changed the setting under the advanced tab, now I'll wait to see if that helps. As far as the second problem, I really don't know if that was caused by Deskscape. It only happened twice and a while back, but I just thought I'd mention it. The first problem, however, keeps showing the DSHost.exe as the process_name in windbg. I only found out about that diagnostic tool recently, that's how I found out to analyze dum

Two different ways. The animations freeze and if I click anywhere on either monitor they both go blank and next animation shows up, and whatever I was doing is the way it was before restart. And the second way, not very often but it has happened once or twice, the restart goes into a loop where it continues to restart and the only way I can stop it is a hard power down and PC reboot. That's only happened two times that I can recall.

I've already tried that, and I thought it worked, but this time it took 2 days before explorer froze again. I did notice that, using start 11 and windows setup, by hiding the taskbar on the secondary monitor that it took several days for the hang to occur, but it still occurred. All the updated versions were installed after the clean install of Window 11. Microsoft was at a loss as well, after working with an "MVP" for 3 weeks, he just won't respond to any more questio

I've been fighting this explorer.exe hangs problem for about 6 months, no help from Windows forum, except sfc, dism, create new profile, clean boot and clean Windows 11 install. Nothing worked problem still occurs. Change graphic cards, no go. I have 3 apps on all my PC builds: Start11, Fences6 and Deskscapes, I have 4 other PCs I'm updating to Windows 11 for my family members. My PC was the only one with the problem. By accident I caused another PC, that was wor

HI basj, Followed your instructions and everything seems to be working perfectly again. I appreciate your help. I downloaded and installed the v2.52(Beta) version that fixed the problem If this helps, I was, at the time of the problem, and now, using Windows 11 Pro Version 24H2, build 26100.4202. I was using Start 11 v2.51 with the Enhance taskbar turned on. Currently, all Start 11 v2.52 settings are the same as they were on v2.51. Thanks again

Hi Everyone, Need a little help from the community. I've been using an old Windows 95 icon I found online years ago, as my start button, ever since I began using Stardock Start Menu. I'm now on Start Menu version 2.51 on Windows 11 Pro 24H2 on dual monitors. My problem just started after the last update, with the taskbar on Monitor 2 (only). The start button on Monitor 2 is missing the right side of the button, and the immediate icon to its right, is missing its left

Hi Jan, No, I'm not getting fed up with all this. I'm grateful for all the help I've been given in trying to resolve this issue. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Nvidia driver, and that didn't help, I even did a complete removal of Deskscape, again, only this time I reinstalled Windows 11 Pro, keeping my apps and data, and that too didn't work. So as a last resort, I switched both DP ports on my Graphics card, to one DP and one HDMI port on my motherboard ma

I do have Windows Pro, and if I did this right, I installed Sandbox, opened it, copied the installation app to Sandbox and installed and activated it there. When I ran it, the animated background appeared the same on monitor 1 (top third of screen, split and stacked slices of the background). On Monitor 2, Windows Sandbox, the whole image was there, but no animation, just the image. I don't know if I did it right, but that was the only way I could figure it out. I've s