Thank goodness I found this thread--the hanging taskbar was beginning to make me hate the move to Windows 8.1. On my multi-monitor system, changing the taskbar multiple display settings from Show taskbar buttons on "Main taskbar and taskbar where window is open" to just "Taskbar where window is open" fixed the problem.
I was having the same problem. I was running a beta, files last updated 2009-10-29, and it stopped working upon the new year with the same error radesign reported. Like him, I was unable to update my WB7 install from Impulse given the "larger than expected" error. What worked was completely uninstalling WB7, restarting, and doing a clean install of the latest build. Back in business, at least with WB7. Unfortunately, Stardock Virtual Desktops will no longer download and instal