I just got a new computer Vista 32-bit
and re-loaded all the Stardock stuff a
couple of days ago ..... so all new installs
of all the latest versions including WB 6 beta
and all works fine so far - no bugs - at all
maybe my 3-1/2 gigs of ram helps too ?

Tried to get the latest WB6 to work... nadda. Installed perfectly, activated, and reports no problems. But will it skin anything? No.

Will wait for final, but for some reason, on Vista especially, WB6 feels about as tacked on over the top of Windows as WB used to back in the 9x/2K days. Feels like a step back.

I'm sure it doesn't on XP, which seems to have received the focus of this update. Ah well, guess Vista users will be waiting until v7. Makes sense, WB didn't feel integrated to XP until 5.

I know it uses DWM in Vista (I know because each version, if it manages to skin, kills DWM on startup and I lose transparency until manually started), but it feels like it uses it by borrowing bits from it to load into WB's own engine, and not seemlessly.

Lots and lots of repainting issues. Pidgin (www.pidgin.im) works poorly - buddy list is broken.

Repeated unnecessary repainting of both firefox and thunderbird.

Various unrepeatable stray repainting errors.

Annoying 'deleting' and 'copying' windowblinds messages on startup.

XP Pro SP2, two 7600GTs running 3 monitors : 1280x1024,2048x1536,1280x1024. Currently trying the molten skin, also tried 'aerial' by 'danil0c' - this has many repainting issues also.

It might help to post your system info Syllopsium

Hi - first post in here so be gentle

As this is a cry for help i will start with this:

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6 (6.0 (beta build 22 x86))
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

(Dell 2407WFP (Digital)) 1 is attached to Radeon X1950 CrossFire Edition

Wblind.dll 2007/08/28 15:49:20
Wbsrv.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:18
Wbconfig.exe 2007/08/27 11:54:35
Wbload.exe 2007/08/27 11:54:11
Wbhelp.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:07
Wbui.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:06
Tray.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:49

I am running WinXP pro SP2. 2GB Ram and a Duo Core CPU.

So, I have just downloaded and installed WB6 beta using SDC. First things first it looks absolutely stunning and I just lurv the Leo skin

So, having got it all set up on my laptop with no problems I set about replicating it on my desktop. This is where it got weird. Everything installed ok and the default skin was just fine. However, when I swapped to the Leo skin some weird things happened . The cursor is displayed behind the title bar of windows when moving over them. On top of that, the menus from ObjectBar (MacPC Update skin) are also displayed behind the title bar. See attached pictures.






I have un-installed WB6, updated my video drivers, re-installed WB6, deleted skins and recopied them and nothing has worked. I did notice that it only seemed to to it on the perpixel skins though. I also un-installed cursorXP and re-installed it. When using the windows default cursor there is no problems with the cursor but the menus still show behind the title bar of windows (so I dont think its a CursorXP issue either). I also noticed that the coloured highlight affect that appears when you hover over the max/min/close buttons on the title bar, seem to be displayed behind the bar, whereas on my laptop they are in front of it. Its almost like the title bar is being displayed on the wrong layer?

The transparency and blur effects are all displayed correctly though

The frustrating thing is that the exact same config work flawlessly on my laptop

Anyone got any ideas?? Thanks!

Great Job Stardock. I had no problems installing Wb6 but it did wipe out all of my themes which is no big thing. I have backups of all my themes since I purchased Window Blinds many years ago. I hope the Final Release will have extra themes. The Molten Theme is awesome. Keep Up The Good Work.

ijhammo

The cursor is displayed behind the title bar of windows when moving over them. On top of that, the menus from ObjectBar (MacPC Update skin) are also displayed behind the title bar. See attached pictures.


This happens due to a bad load of the graphics drivers and that of cursorxp. If you have some way to clear the icon cache and do a logoff and log back in - it should solve it. If not do a complete restart with let xp load completely before you login. Another problem also is there maybe a lot more running in the startup than what is truly needed.

How many icons are on your desktop? Just a question I'm wondering about...

Give that a try and see. It is mainly a bad load of graphics drivers. The which ATI are very bad about doing. Also make sure those drivers are completely up to date!

SGT 

Syllopsium: Copying and deleting messages at startup are nothing to do with WindowBlinds.  I suspect you have ObjectBar or RightClick running and it is trying to reimport the WB skin every time.

Could you be more specific about painting issues as we have not had reports of that before.

ijhammo: What you are seeing is the bug in Windows with perpixel windows where they paint the z order incorrectly.  Always on top windows are showing under non always on top windows.

Rebooting should fix this, but any display mode changes may trigger it.  The bug is totally random and sometimes a display change will cause it and sometimes a later display change will fix it.  I would guess that something on your PC is causing a screen res change near bootup (ATI CCC perhaps?)

Hi Neil

Rebooting doesn't fix it but logging off and on again does! ATI CCC does run during bootup so I think you could be right. I tried changing the order everything loads in but it didnt seem to help.

Any other suggestions for how I might resolve it?

Thanks

What system information do you want? Some information follows. However, first an update on the problems I was having :

>Pidgin (www.pidgin.im) works poorly - buddy list is broken.
Fixed by updating drivers to latest beta nvidia UK international driver

>Repeated unnecessary repainting of both firefox and thunderbird.
Appears to be a WindowFX issue, not Windowblinds. Has not reoccured since WindowFX disabled

>Annoying 'deleting' and 'copying' windowblinds messages on startup.
Only appears when 'windows classic' is selected as a skin

Various unrepeatable stray repainting errors.
However, there are now repainting issues in Pidgin's IRC window at times
The scrollbar sometimes flashes the window edge all manner of colours when scrolling up and down
The inactive window border frequently becomes completely transparent



WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6 (6.0 (beta build 22 x86))

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
(ViewSonic VP730 Series) 2 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
(ViewSonic VP730 Series) 3 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
(This is a lie - one of the monitors is a CRT, not a VP730)


Wblind.dll 2007/08/28 15:49:20
Wbsrv.dll 2007/08/02 11:25:18
Wbconfig.exe 2007/08/27 11:54:35
Wbload.exe 2007/07/30 13:14:11
Wbhelp.dll 2007/07/24 10:21:07
Wbui.dll 2007/07/24 10:21:06


OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer INTEL_
System Model D975XBX2
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 2 GenuineIntel ~1866 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 2 GenuineIntel ~1866 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Intel Corp. BX97520J.86A.2770.2007.0613.1403, 13/06/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
Time Zone GMT Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 2,048.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 1.05 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 3.85 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Name NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0391&SUBSYS_22201682&REV_A1\4&16020E22&0&0008
Adapter Type GeForce 7600 GT, NVIDIA compatible
Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
Adapter RAM 256.00 MB (268,435,456 bytes)
Installed Drivers nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version 6.14.11.6344
INF File oem55.inf (nv4_NV3x section)
Color Planes 1
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 2048 x 1536 x 75 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Memory Address 0xA3000000-0xA3FFFFFF
Memory Address 0x80000000-0xF0000000
Memory Address 0xA2000000-0xA3FFFFFF
I/O Port 0x00004000-0x00004FFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 16
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\nv4_mini.sys (6.14.11.6344, 6.53 MB (6,842,208 bytes), 23/03/2007 19:06)

Name NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0391&SUBSYS_22201682&REV_A1\4&6C79FC5&0&00E0
Adapter Type GeForce 7600 GT, NVIDIA compatible
Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
Adapter RAM 256.00 MB (268,435,456 bytes)
Installed Drivers nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version 6.14.11.6344
INF File oem55.inf (nv4_NV3x section)
Color Planes 1
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1280 x 1024 x 60 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Memory Address 0xA1000000-0xA1FFFFFF
Memory Address 0x90000000-0x9FFFFFFF
Memory Address 0xA0000000-0xA1FFFFFF
I/O Port 0x00003C80-0x00003CFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 16
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\nv4_mini.sys (6.14.11.6344, 6.53 MB (6,842,208 bytes), 23/03/2007 19:06)

seems that the transparency option doesn't work on the molten taskbar....thanks..

I'm using IE 7 and wondered how i can use Tool Bar Icons. Have I lost it?

You can only use them in IE6.

I have been having a lot of "Blue Screen" crash dumps during startup recently. I tried preventing everything i could think of, except wb6, from starting at startup to no avail. As soon as i uninstalled wb6, the crash dumps stopped. I am using an Nvidia 8800 GTS with driver version 7.15.11.6222. My system specs are outlined below:



Processor: Intel Core 2 CPU 6700@ 2.66 GHz 2.67 GHz
RAM: 2046 MB
System Type: 32 bit Operating System Windows Vista Ultimate

The crash dump log contains a reference to win32k.sys if that is helpful.

Do you have a USB remote control receiver?