RKurbis...in the "best performance" setting, is your Acive Desktop on or off...this might have something to do with it. There was another post about Active Desktop interfering with Fences.

I had this same problem with disappearing fences, Active desktop was NOT active , I was not using a wallpaper I had a solid color (black).  Changing to windows xp theme did fix it (THANK YOU FOR THAT I REALLY LIKE THIS APP). 

I am using Winxp sp3.

To everyone who posted above... whether or not you're still having the problem, try updating to the latest update of Fences on Impulse. If my updates work like I hope they will, you won't be able to get your fences to not show up Let me know if it doesn't work out for you or <gasp> creates any fences-dont-show problems. (Particularly for solid-color wallpapers)

I've reverted to my old "plain" ram saving desktop theme, the new update works great so far.

Awesome desktop feature JMB, worth the tidbit of headroom. I hate going through the start popup to get to my programs (which I have too many) This utility organizes all my favorable programs in a nice constant layout, my wife loves it too.

I have the same situation of RKurbis: Active desktop off, only solid background color, XP SP3, windows classic layout and so on...

Unfortunately I tested only Fences v0.96 Community-Preview Beta without Impulse... thus the JMB1984 update doesn't work for me... (I think...)

I'd like to chime in on this.  Fresh install of Fences as of today (0.96.1650).  Fences are not showing.  None of the above suggestions alleviate the problem.

Running Vista (technically no "Active Desktop").  Solid Background.  Desktop spans multiple monitors.

Apparently this is still an issue, though I can hardly complain when the thing is free.

I Fixed it! - I had the same problem today, first time using the product.. I am using XP Pro.

This worked for me, just randomly tried it.. and it now works well.

I hope it works for you:

Open Display Properties.

Click the Desktop Tab.

Click Customize Desktop Button

Click Web Tab

Un-Check the checkbox at the bottom labeld "Lock Desktop Items"

-John

Bumping this, since I'm running the latest that Impulse thinks is available to me. But I'm encountering the problem on Win7 RC. Specifically, it happened when I accidentally started playing with wallpapers in Win7. I had selected a new wallpaper set, which would change pictures every 30 minutes. Now, I can't get my fences back. They're "there", but completely hidden. Double-clicking causes them to flicker and reappear, but trying to double-click one when they should be invisible brings them visible. Clicking anywhere else on the desktop while they're invisible causes them to flicker.

Hope this helps...

I had this same issue today. After all the fixes listed here I was still having the error. I remembered when reinstalling my video drivers that LogMeIn's remote desktop client app installs a custom display driver.

Once I uninstalled LogMeIn, Fences worked again.

I am experimenting this very same issue, but it only happens on one of my systems (laptop), my Desktop does not show this behaviour.

I tried uninstalling & reinstalling fences... but the problem persisted.

Point out here that you are using fences on Windows 7 RC.  I have to wonder if Fences has support for Windows 7 yet...

*EDIT - I checked the site and it shows support for Windows 7

Indeed, I am using Fences with Windows 7 RC 64 bits.

I am not sure if there is "official" support Fen ces under Windows 7, specially conidering that fences itself is still a beta product. Anyway, what I've seen is that, in thepast, Jeff has helped us Windows 7 testers. (Specially when it was an invitation only beta).

Doing some tests I´ve found that the problem is indeed related to personallizing Windows 7 background, and somehow related to Aero enabled themes. If I select any "Basic and High Contrast Theme" fences would work just fine, but if I pick any "Aero Theme" then fences would not show properly. I would add that this is not something that occurs on a completely repetitive manner... switching between Aero and non-aero themes would sometimes yield an operable Fences (when the Aero theme is selected again), but only a few times... I have to switch between them multiple times to get a functional fences setup.

Something to note is that I did not perceived this problem but until very recently (a couple of days ago), which happens to coincde with the installation of the latest WindowBlinds beta for Windows 7. But I am not sure if it might be somehow related to this problem.

I know when I was beta testing it (the invite only version), I had issues with changing wallpapers and the fences disappearing as well.  It was something I pointed out to Jeff back then.  I thought it was fixed for the public release.

However, the Stardock Fences site says Fences is supported so... 

I recently installed the current beta of Fences, and I'm loving it.  Like the folks above me, I ran into the situation where all the shaded frames of my fences went away, along with my ability to scroll in them, and double-clicking the desktop made them flash but not hide.  And like orlandogeek, I also use LogMeIn, and this behavior came after I ended a remote session with it. 

Changing to the XP theme and back to classic refreshed whatever display components were being affected and got my frames back in working order.  My knee-jerk reaction is that LogMeIn's display driver and Fences aren't getting along very well.  Of course, if the other folks reporting in this thread aren't using that program, there may still be some common thread in what's happening, system-wise.  I'll report back if this seems to happen consistently.

XP Professional, SP3, 32-bit

I've installed Fences on both a pc and a laptop. On the PC it works like a charme

On the laptop it'll only work if I uses the Windows XP Theme with no alterations. I would like to have a solid colour as a background, but everytime I try a solid colour, the fences becomes invisible. They are there and I can move them around, but I can't see them.

I've tried installing Fences on 2 different laptops and everytime with the same result. Only works with the "Windows XP Theme"

Continued behavior is confirmed.  Whenever I connect to the computer via LogMeIn, my fence frames disappear and become non-scrollable.  When I get back to my home PC, if I change to the XP theme, the frames return, and I can then switch back to Classic.

More recent versions of Windows 7 made changes that were incompatbile with Fences. (It worked with the version of Win7 of when Fences was last updated.)

Fences has been updated to work with the latest Win7 however, and we're planning on releasing the update in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

JSeddon: to follow up, I also installed LogMeIn (with its display driver) on to a test XP system of mine, put it into classic mode and disabled all effects / wallpapers / etc, logged in/out with LogMeIn, and no matter what I did I was unable to get it to not work. A few improvements have been made in this area, however, so with any luck the issue will be resolved with the next update coming soon. Please let me know how it works for you! Thanks

Great to hear an upcoming update solves the issue... I stated to hate non-aero themes under Windows 7. Thanks Jeff