WindowBlinds 3.3 arrives...
Tuesday, April 23, 2002 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
WindowBilnds is a program designed to make Windows into a fully skinnable operating system. It does this by applying visual styles (skins) to Windows. On Windows XP, it extends Microsoft's visual style engine to support WB visual styles which are faster and use less memory and are far more flexible. With version 3.3, much of the Windows XP visual style engine has been brought to Windows 98, ME, and 2000. New under the hood changes include a global bitmap cache which dramatically improves performance while reducing memory consumption. Stardock also worked closely with ATI and Nvidia to take advantage of some of the new hardware accelerated APIs (the results can be seen in the latest drivers from both). Creating skins with WindowBlinds can be as easy as loading up notepad and a paint program. Users can also download SkinStudio (www.skinstudio.net) which provides a graphical environment for creating skins. Useful links:
Full skinning guide:
http://www.windowblinds.net/skinning
Getting Started:
https://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/wb3/wb3_guide_final.htm
Download:
http://www.windowblinds.net/default.asp?page=download
Screenshot:
http://www.windowblinds.net/wb-may02.jpg
Want your desktop to look like that screenshot? Grab https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?cmd=456&SkinID=67&library=22 (the full suite).
Geoff Faulkner
Reply #2 Wednesday, April 24, 2002 3:29 AM
Reply #2 Wednesday, April 24, 2002 3:29 AM
As a registered user of WindowBlinds 3 I was able to download the 3.3 update from Stardock's website. However, I was unable to install it. The installation asks for the license key which I correctly supplied, but the installer thinks is invalid. I have contacted support for resolution, but just putting out a "head's up" in case others run into problems... G
Geoff Faulkner
Reply #3 Wednesday, April 24, 2002 1:39 PM
Reply #3 Wednesday, April 24, 2002 1:39 PM
I have been contacted by support from Stardock. It seems they have changed their serial number format, and hadn't linked the new serial number lookup on the website with the new number.
Support has generated a new serial number for me and tells me that if I do a lookup now, I should see the key.
My new key is over 20 digits long, so if you do a number lookup and don't get a new-format number, contact support to have them assign a new key. If you don't hear from them, I would continue to request the key emailed to you from their website. I imagine with a problem like this they are getting hit hard with serial number requests.
Here's their response:
We have recently implemented a new serial number system for WindowBlinds, and the serial number below is no longer correct. Unfortunately, we are still working out the wrinkles with the new system. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Also, when using the serial number lookup (https://www.stardock.com/support/) in the future, your correct information will be sent to you.
G
Support has generated a new serial number for me and tells me that if I do a lookup now, I should see the key.
My new key is over 20 digits long, so if you do a number lookup and don't get a new-format number, contact support to have them assign a new key. If you don't hear from them, I would continue to request the key emailed to you from their website. I imagine with a problem like this they are getting hit hard with serial number requests.
Here's their response:
We have recently implemented a new serial number system for WindowBlinds, and the serial number below is no longer correct. Unfortunately, we are still working out the wrinkles with the new system. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Also, when using the serial number lookup (https://www.stardock.com/support/) in the future, your correct information will be sent to you.
G
GreenReaper
Reply #4 Wednesday, April 24, 2002 3:33 PM
Reply #4 Wednesday, April 24, 2002 3:33 PM
Incidentally, if you like WB, you can comment at http://download.com.com/3000-2326-10104607.html - it makes a big difference. Of course, if you don't like WB you can comment there as well. *g*
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Reply #1 Tuesday, April 23, 2002 7:17 PM