DesktopX Keeps Getting Borked
Third time now...
Thursday, April 19, 2012 by RedneckDude | Discussion: DesktopX
OK, here's the skinny:
DesktopX Pro 3.96 (4) Installed from standalone from archive from Stardock Store.
Windows 7 64 bit.
SSD
Microsoft Security Essentials AntiVirus. (Been using it a long time)
No scans run, no optimization software, etc.
Several times lately I shutdown my PC at night, next morning, DesktopX won't run. If I have Task Manager running, I see it load, then unload.
No error messages, cursor blinks a few times...nothing.
Uninstall/reinstall is no help. All I can do is restore an Acronis Backup to fix it. Any ideas?
Reply #4 Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:44 PM
Maybe next time it does it try clearing the user caches before doing all the restoring? Might be getting something up in there that's screwing it up, either via something you're working on or the program itself, and if that does the trick you might be able to narrow it down.
Reply #5 Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:52 PM
Maybe next time it does it try clearing the user caches before doing all the restoring? Might be getting something up in there that's screwing it up, either via something you're working on or the program itself, and if that does the trick you might be able to narrow it down.
Tried that. Clearing caches is an old trick with DX that I learned a looooooong time ago.
Reply #6 Thursday, April 19, 2012 4:34 PM
Ya I was sure you knew about it, but sometimes we do forget about the oldies but goodies.
Next time it chokes you might try it again with the antivirus disabled, there could have been an antivirus update that's causing a problem. Might check the AV logs - if there are any - to see if it's telling you anything.
In terms of narrowing it down, might try restoring in pieces. I don't think DTX is still writing anything out to the Programs directory these days but it might be (I don't have it installed anymore) - do you see any files getting new "last modified" dates out there? (on the other hand maybe it's trying to and not getting the job done.)
If the restore routine you're doing now includes restoring the registry, you might try making backups of the registry directly every day and then just restoring one of those when DTX fails to see if it's happening in the registry.
Reply #7 Thursday, April 19, 2012 7:12 PM
lol...Did that too. Great minds really do think alike, huh.
Acronis does a full backup of the entire disk every morning.
Reply #8 Thursday, April 19, 2012 7:44 PM
Don't insult yourself. 
Another thing that comes to mind is that it may not be shutting down properly sometimes. You might try quitting it directly if you're just counting on it to close out at logoff, and watching processes to make sure it/they are actually shutting down. If they are, and it behaves itself doing it that way, keep shutting it down before logoff for a few days or so to see if it continues to behave.
I don't know if Support has a log utility for DTX, if they do that would be good.
Reply #9 Thursday, April 19, 2012 8:17 PM
Well, I have DX set to run at startup, which it usually does. I have always just shutdown windows and DX shuts down, and restarts right along with it, as it is intended.
I have no idea why all of a sudden it is acting crazy.
Reply #12 Thursday, April 19, 2012 9:37 PM
That's what we're trying to figure out, or narrow down, or at least figure out a way that you can keep using it without constantly doing restores, right?
I've already reinstalled it, have it working, moved on. I can only wait until it happens again....
Reply #13 Friday, April 20, 2012 1:17 AM
I also have the same trouble from times to times and the best way for me to solve it, is to bring in, the specific cache of the concerned widget(s) (taken on another PC), as the widget is running. on the next boot, eveything's OK.
I get this weird trouble since the widgets are no more stored in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Stardock\DesktopX\Widgets, but in C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object Desktop\DesktopX\Widgets 
and though i think much of a firewall consequence than an A/V one (linked to the fact it's no more in the "shared folders" ...)
Reply #14 Friday, April 20, 2012 3:35 AM
I'm curious - I also get 'limited' time with DX before it starts crashing on load and I also end up reinstalling to fix it - probably because it's such a brute force guaranteed method - I'm being lazy by not digging further.
Could there be some sort of 'time trial' code kicking in silently?
Maybe it's a windows update that does it to us?
It's like windows just decides it hates DesktopX executable suddenly.
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Reply #1 Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:31 PM
OK, update. I uninstalled with Revo Uninstaller, ran CCleaner, and Advanced System Care to clean the registry.
Rebooted, and reinstalled DX and all is well.
Still, I wonder why I have to do this every two or three days?
I will let you know when/if this happens again. Oddness....