WindowBlinds 6.1 beta thread

Published on February 14, 2008 By Neil Banfield In Stardock Support General

Please post feedback on the beta release here.

Release notes:

WB 6.09.113 beta
-----------------------

Vista
-----

Added Explorer backgrounds feature - Users can change the background of their Explorer windows, as well as the background color and opacity.
Added 30 different background textures including no texture, wet paint, various marbles, and ice effects.
Added support for 3 additional titlebar buttons on per pixel skins. These support rollup, help, always on top and command buttons.
Added Support for dialog background bitmaps - this was disabled on Vista in previous builds.
Added additional glass explorer sections. These will show up in future.
64 bit build synced with 32 bit version.
Misc tweaks.

XP
---

Added Support for 3 additional titlebar buttons on per pixel skins. These support rollup, help, always on top and command buttons.
Blue edge on logoff dialog cancel button removed
Tweaks to dialog background bitmaps
Misc tweaks

Note that the 64 bit XP build has not been updated for this beta build. For the 6.1 release, 32 bit apps on 64 bit XP would support the new per pixel buttons, but 64 bit apps will not.

Skinstudio 6 Pro 5.97.[b].017 in SDC supports the new sections.

Comments (Page 1)

Philly0381

on Feb 14, 2008

Okay Neil, I just downloaded the update. I checked the history and I don't use Corel/WordPerfect apps or use other languages then English. I have not noticed any changes in WB. I'm using XP Home 32bit SP2.

Is the post meant for everyone or just a group of beta testers that know what to look for? I'd like to help.

Astyanax

on Feb 14, 2008

Glad to see some of the things I reported to you guys had gotten fixed in x64 (volume control is now like it is on x86, and the taskbar thumbnail previews have a white border). Only thing I noticed is the address bar still gets larger if the Top Frame height is above 23 pixels... which happens everytime I reboot, easiest way to fix it is to unload wb and reload the skin which fixes the problem in explorer, but the save as dialog is still enlarged..

Looking good so far..!

Neil Banfield

on Feb 14, 2008

The history was not updated yet.

The most visible changes are on Vista but per pixel skins on XP now support rollup, always on top and command buttons.

Philly0381

on Feb 14, 2008

Okay, thank you Neil.

Lantec

on Feb 14, 2008

Neil, any chance you could give us a "Step by Step" on creating a new preset color without changing "ALL" the colors. There are several of us who have tried to follow Brad's original "How To" who just cannot make it work........

On reboot I changed to Adni's Vista Plus V3 and tried to create preset....gave up and changed to Aero Exec and now I've got black at both ends of the taskbar where it's normally transparent (double height) XP SP2 latest updates.

Thanks

ALMonty

on Feb 14, 2008

One small thing that's bugging me. The check box that says show icon in system tray always turns off. It's kind of a pain to reboot to get it back again. I don't know what's causing this to happen. It'll be there for days then I'll look down and it's gone. I open up WB and the box won't be checked.

I'm running Vista Ultimate

Besides that it's running perfect as usual

eieio

on Feb 14, 2008

In Windowblinds config>Settings, 'Play Sounds Defined by Skin (if any) will not stay unchecked. After closing the Config screen and reopening, the checkbox has rechecked itself.

XP Pro SP2 - updates current

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.1 (build 46 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.

(Default Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 7100 GS

Wblind.dll 2008/02/13 16:15:20
Wbsrv.dll 2008/02/13 16:15:10
Wbconfig.exe 2008/02/13 16:15:42
Wbload.exe 2008/02/14 11:05:14
Wbhelp.dll 2007/08/27 10:54:07
Wbui.dll 2007/11/06 10:13:05
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 16:58:21
Screen.exe 2008/01/14 17:02:18

NightTrainthedark

on Feb 14, 2008

WB processes start and run upon reboot even though Vista Aero is applied before rebooting.

Philly0381

on Feb 14, 2008

Thanks for posting the history for the current update Neil.

Neil Banfield

on Feb 14, 2008

Those of you on Vista may want to have a play with the explorer backgrounds page and especially the opacity slider (move it left)

NightTrainthedark

on Feb 14, 2008

Those of you on Vista may want to have a play with the explorer backgrounds page and especially the opacity slider (move it left)

Well done sir. Works like a charm.

ALMonty

on Feb 14, 2008

I created a solid color .tga file and put it in the texture folder same size as the ones in there. Why isn't it showing up in the drop down menu?

Littleboy

on Feb 14, 2008

There is a file named backgrounds.uis in the parent folder with the list of textures.

SteveGosselin

on Feb 14, 2008

All works fine except for the first run (Aero > Dallas Maverick):

Product
Desktop Window Manager

Problem
Stopped working

Date
14/02/2008 21:42

Status
Report Sent

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: BEX
Application Name: Dwm.exe
Application Version: 6.0.6000.16386
Application Timestamp: 4549aed1
Fault Module Name: WBLIND.dll_unloaded
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 47b42ad7
Exception Offset: 660271dc
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Data: 00000008
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 4105
Additional Information 1: 8d13
Additional Information 2: cdca9b1d21d12b77d84f02df48e34311
Additional Information 3: 8d13
Additional Information 4: cdca9b1d21d12b77d84f02df48e34311

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 173260346

System info:

Your computer has a Windows Experience Index base score of 4.1
Your Windows Graphics Experience score is 4.8

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.1 (build 83 x86 - Vista Edition)

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
(ACER AL1916W ) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT

Wblind.dll 2008/02/14 11:05:20
Wbsrv.dll 2008/02/13 16:15:29
Wbconfig.exe 2008/02/13 16:15:42
Wbload.exe 2008/02/14 11:05:14
Wbhelp.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:07
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 17:58:21
Wbload.dll 2007/09/12 17:58:28
Screen.exe 2008/01/11 12:14:18

Log off, log on, reapply this same blind, all works fine.

vStyler

on Feb 14, 2008

Thanks for the fixes Neil, especially the blue on cancel

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