Taskbar Issue in Windows Vista and 7 [RESOLVED]
Monday, April 2, 2012 by LightStar | Discussion: WindowBlinds
Whenever I boot my PC into Windows Vista or Windows 7 (both 64-bit), any transparent area around the taskbar gets filled in with a solid color. If I reapply the theme though in Windowblinds, the taskbar looks as it should. This issue does not occur in Windows XP 32-bit. Any ideas on how this can be fixed? I am using all latest software on all OS's.
Reply #2 Monday, April 2, 2012 11:02 AM
that hapens to me ALL of the time. it is a DWM issue. i have to re-start DWM and then all is well. between that issue and having to have the app and skins on my SSD, i no longer have WB installed. DWM is not an issue without WB installed. sorry, Neil. it's a great app and i do miss using it but ....
Reply #3 Monday, April 2, 2012 1:45 PM
Do you feel like Fred Flintstone?Reply #4 Monday, April 2, 2012 3:40 PM
Nope, I immediately checked Task Manager on boot, DWM.EXE is running Neil. Both on Windows Vista and 7. Strange thing is that I forgot to mention, it does not have this problem on every boot.
Reply #5 Monday, April 2, 2012 3:49 PM
Quoting Neil Banfield,
reply 1
It looks like the DWM is not enabled when you boot up.
Nope, I immediately checked Task Manager on boot, DWM.EXE is running Neil. Both on Windows Vista and 7. Strange thing is that I forgot to mention, it does not have this problem on every boot.
DWM.exe may be running, but it does not mean it is enabled.
You can tell by pressing Win key + tab. If you get flip3d then the DWM is enabled, otherwise it is not.
It sounds like a timing issue on your box. Do you still have TuneUp running?
Reply #6 Monday, April 2, 2012 5:46 PM
Yes, I still have TuneUp running Neil, The only thing I thought it affected is UIS0 skins which were not important to me. Hopefully someone at their end will fix that issue, I reported it but have not heard back from them in months. If they made a version without the GUI changing capabilities it would be perfect!
Reply #7 Monday, April 2, 2012 7:10 PM
I have now uninstalled TuneUp and sent them a nasty email as to their lack of support Neil. Issues are resolved. Thanks for the assist. 
Reply #8 Monday, April 2, 2012 8:33 PM
I do not have Tuneup on my machine and am experiencing the same problem. It is completely intermittent as to whether WB is applied properly at start up Reapplying the theme fixes it but I sure would like to know why I have this problem. 
Reply #9 Monday, April 2, 2012 9:09 PM
Hmmm, maybe I spoke too soon then Frankief, but it was definitely a DWM issue. I will do a few more reboots to see if the problem occurs after uninstalling TuneUp Utilities, but for now removing it seems to have fixed the problem. Time will tell though.
Reply #10 Friday, April 13, 2012 4:18 PM
As an update for Neil and anyone else concerned, I received an email from TuneUp Utilities technical support today with a resolve for this issue. It also fixed my issue with UIS0 skins applying as classic in Vista and Windows 7. All I had to do was run services.msc and stop the TuneUp Utilities theme service and then set it to disabled in the properties of the service. After a reboot both issues were fixed. I love all the other features of this software, registry cleaning, etc., so this is great for me! Anyway, problems gone! 
Reply #12 Friday, April 13, 2012 6:11 PM
Hmm, I have the same problem and also never had TuneUp installed. It is quite annoying, especially if DeskScapes is running (it will just show a black background, until I reapply a wb skin). But reapplying a skin is quick and painless, so it never bothered me that much.
But now I would like to know, why it can happens sometimes. I really dont know which software could interfere. I guess that it is definitely not any other Stardock software?
Reply #13 Friday, April 13, 2012 7:04 PM
No idea what could be causing your issue Asound, but I would not rule out other Stardock software, although somewhat unlikely.
Are you using or did you ever use any other desktop customizing software?
Reply #14 Friday, April 13, 2012 7:13 PM
I do run DeskScapes, Fences pro, CursorFX plus, WindowFX 5 beta 2, Icon Packager and Rainmeter.
Reply #15 Friday, April 13, 2012 7:17 PM
Did the problem start after installing WindowFX5 Beta 2 or before that?
Reply #16 Friday, April 13, 2012 7:47 PM
I had it also with version 4, but I dont know if it existed before I even used any WindowFX version.
Reply #17 Tuesday, April 17, 2012 10:50 PM
I too am having this problem... it's been going on for well over a year... when I boot up I load tweak 7 and select restart dwm and that fixes it, but it's annoying that I have to do that at every boot up... I didn't use Window FX 4 and I had these problems before installing window fx 5
not sure but I think it's an incompatibilty with deskscapes and windowblinds....
Reply #18 Tuesday, April 17, 2012 10:59 PM
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Reply #1 Monday, April 2, 2012 10:45 AM
It looks like the DWM is not enabled when you boot up.