WindowBlinds 5 Beta 1B released
Lots of fixes and tuning
Wednesday, October 5, 2005 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
WindowBlinds 5 Beta 1B was released today. It is a major update and improvement over yesterday's beta and should clear up most of the issues for those users who ran into problems. But it's more than just a bug fix, additional performance improvements have been put in as well.
Users of WindowBlinds 5 have also reported that it is significantly faster than WindowBlinds 4.6 (which in itself was already very fast). That's because WindowBlinds 5's engine has been further optimized for drawing and resizing and taking advantage of the latest video cards.
A few notes about WindowBlinds 5 Beta 1b (4.90b):
- We don't recommend using it with WindowFX yet. We have a new WindowFX about to go up that has been optimized to work with WindowBlinds 5.
- Skin changing should be faster.
- Right-Click on title bar override to make it roll up the window has been added for Alpha-Blended title bars.
- RunDLL32 issue resolved.
- WinZip issue resolved.
- Min/Max settings respect settings.
- WB Config now has support for helping those with ATI 9000 that have corrupted mouse buttons.
- Corruption with Kol's WinVista skin has been resolved.
- Taskbar corruption (graphical) issues should be fixed.
- LogonStudio compatibility issue resolved.
All in all, a busy day for the WindowBlinds team. You need to have Object Desktop (www.objectdesktop.com) in order to get access to the beta.
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BoddhiC
Reply #62 Thursday, October 6, 2005 12:49 PM
Reply #62 Thursday, October 6, 2005 12:49 PM
The first beta activated normally, but I had the problem with only being able to get classic mode. With the second beta I've had two odd problems: 1. During install or if I try to activate manually, I get an error 5 (whatever that is) that activation was unsuccessful. This occurs even if I've shutdown my firewall and antivirus software. 2. The other odd thing with install is that despite the activation error it said it installed correctly. But, when I closed the windows, there was another window that said that it was unable to initialize install as system files were either missing or corupt. As far as I know there is nothing wrong with my system. Everything else works (using XP SP2). Any thoughts?
Chef Garry
Reply #63 Thursday, October 6, 2005 12:52 PM
Reply #63 Thursday, October 6, 2005 12:52 PM
I've always felt confident running Stardock beta software - very rarely any issues and none major. Tuesday's release clearly had more issues than any beta I've seen but now it's all good. Great work, Thanks
BobW
Reply #64 Thursday, October 6, 2005 1:28 PM
Didn't need to do that. Now managed to get it working again after once again uninstalling all WB rebooting, reinstalling WB51B and rebooting once again.
Here's another happy bunny
Reply #64 Thursday, October 6, 2005 1:28 PM
Didn't need to do that. Now managed to get it working again after once again uninstalling all WB rebooting, reinstalling WB51B and rebooting once again.
Here's another happy bunny
ama02
Reply #65 Thursday, October 6, 2005 1:31 PM
Reply #65 Thursday, October 6, 2005 1:31 PM
Trying to read through the various beta topics, I may have missed this...but I have a nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (128MB) graphics card, with latest driver. Would I be able to successfully run WB5?
lauramoore
Reply #66 Thursday, October 6, 2005 1:37 PM
Reply #66 Thursday, October 6, 2005 1:37 PM
I love it!! But, the beta is interferring with Acrobat and Windows Movie Maker, I have to unload windowblinds to use these two programs (and perhaps others I haven't tried yet). Any Ideas?
Green Armani
Reply #67 Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:12 PM
Reply #67 Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:12 PM
So this is what worked for me:
I first uninstalled windowblinds completely off my computer via stardock central> It asks if you want to delete your themes....guess the answer?? NO OF COURSE!
So anyway, it goes through the uninstall rather quickly, once it's done go the windowblinds directory and delete any left over files that are in there. Leave the theme folders alone!
Okay....so now go back into SDC and select the WB5 beta and click install. Let it run it's course and once it's installed and it asks you to restart the computer.....DO IT!
Once the computer has been restarted you should get the WB configuration interface.........before you try anything or select a skin to apply, open up your windows explorer and find the SDC folder in your program files. Copy and paste the 'Activate.exe' file that is in there over to your Windowblinds folder.
Once you do this, go back to the WB config interface and double click a theme (Aura is best) that you want to apply (instead of clicking on 'Apply Changes'). You should get a window that pops up asking you to enter your email and product key or some type of registration mumbo jumbo. All you need to do is enter the email address you used to register your object desktop and then enter your object desktop registration code.
Once you do this and hit ok or enter (which ever it says) it should say "Your product is activated" <-- Something like that!
You should now be in the Windowblinds 5 country...............pay homage to yee Stardock Gods for they are wise and merciful
I first uninstalled windowblinds completely off my computer via stardock central> It asks if you want to delete your themes....guess the answer?? NO OF COURSE!
So anyway, it goes through the uninstall rather quickly, once it's done go the windowblinds directory and delete any left over files that are in there. Leave the theme folders alone!
Okay....so now go back into SDC and select the WB5 beta and click install. Let it run it's course and once it's installed and it asks you to restart the computer.....DO IT!
Once the computer has been restarted you should get the WB configuration interface.........before you try anything or select a skin to apply, open up your windows explorer and find the SDC folder in your program files. Copy and paste the 'Activate.exe' file that is in there over to your Windowblinds folder.
Once you do this, go back to the WB config interface and double click a theme (Aura is best) that you want to apply (instead of clicking on 'Apply Changes'). You should get a window that pops up asking you to enter your email and product key or some type of registration mumbo jumbo. All you need to do is enter the email address you used to register your object desktop and then enter your object desktop registration code.
Once you do this and hit ok or enter (which ever it says) it should say "Your product is activated" <-- Something like that!
You should now be in the Windowblinds 5 country...............pay homage to yee Stardock Gods for they are wise and merciful
Drakknar
Reply #68 Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:34 PM
Reply #68 Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:34 PM
Beta 1B is running very smoothly. People at Stardock did a very good work! Cheers 
After I uninstalled the old beta and installed this one, the MSN Messenger bug is gone, now it works great but the application isn't skinned at all (but that's no problem because I always hide the titlebar)
I experienced the menu bug also after activating "Enable if you have corrupted titlebar buttons & text background" checkbox in the Troubleshooting section.
Here's some pictures:
Also it seems that randomly some newly opened window isn't skinned at all (expecially Task Manager, but it happened once with Windows Fax and Pictures viewer):
I found also a strange bug using Photoshop CS2 (I don't know if it's WB related, but using classic UXTheme.dll I don't experience such a problem): if I have multiple pictures opened in a different windows, clicking on the titlebar of everyone of them won't select it, and only the first one which I have opened remains selected)
Here's my troubleshooting report:
WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:
STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
You have one monitor in total.
(Schermo predefinito) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6800
'NVIDIA GeForce 6800' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
Keep up the good work!
After I uninstalled the old beta and installed this one, the MSN Messenger bug is gone, now it works great but the application isn't skinned at all (but that's no problem because I always hide the titlebar)
I experienced the menu bug also after activating "Enable if you have corrupted titlebar buttons & text background" checkbox in the Troubleshooting section.
Here's some pictures:
Also it seems that randomly some newly opened window isn't skinned at all (expecially Task Manager, but it happened once with Windows Fax and Pictures viewer):
I found also a strange bug using Photoshop CS2 (I don't know if it's WB related, but using classic UXTheme.dll I don't experience such a problem): if I have multiple pictures opened in a different windows, clicking on the titlebar of everyone of them won't select it, and only the first one which I have opened remains selected)
Here's my troubleshooting report:
WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:
STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
You have one monitor in total.
(Schermo predefinito) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6800
'NVIDIA GeForce 6800' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
Keep up the good work!
PaulEric
Reply #69 Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:41 PM
Same here... in addition, the "minimize to systray" with titlebar minimize button doesn't work with per pixel skins...
Reply #69 Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:41 PM
| I haven't read that, but... does anyone notice that the sounds for the buttons (minimize, restore, close, etc.) doesn't work with the per pixel borders skins? |
Same here... in addition, the "minimize to systray" with titlebar minimize button doesn't work with per pixel skins...
Gollums
Reply #70 Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:47 PM
Reply #70 Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:47 PM
Congratulations Stardock - another fine application update. This newest addition adds to the value of my ObjectDesktop subscription! Now for the Pandora's box - now I am eagerly awaiting the WinFX, RightClick and ObjectBar updates so that they all play nicely again!
Also ->
doesn't seem to be working for me. I'm surrently using 5imple Alpha (great theme, not keen on the l33t 5p34k name though 
) and all I get is the Move, Size, Min, Max, Close menu. I don't know if it has to be enabled in the skin, or if it isn't working correctly. Just wanted to point that out in case it was an issue.
Great job guys. I hope that when you have all (read 90%) of your customers happy that you guys drink some beers ( shame about the Frankenmuth breweries though ) and get some well deserved rest!
Also ->
| 3. Right-Click on title bar override to make it roll up the window has been added for Alpha-Blended title bars. |
) and all I get is the Move, Size, Min, Max, Close menu. I don't know if it has to be enabled in the skin, or if it isn't working correctly. Just wanted to point that out in case it was an issue.Great job guys. I hope that when you have all (read 90%) of your customers happy that you guys drink some beers ( shame about the Frankenmuth breweries though ) and get some well deserved rest!
laurentfr
Reply #71 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:31 PM
Reply #71 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:31 PM
ok, Windowblinds works ok.
only bug I see. When maximized, the top frame windows lose its trnasprency (big ugly black box instead). Only happening when maximized.
only bug I see. When maximized, the top frame windows lose its trnasprency (big ugly black box instead). Only happening when maximized.
| WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report: WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC. Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins. If you suffer visible corruption (overbright) on the frames and have a NVIDIA board then please be aware this is a NVIDIA bug. It has been seen on GeForce 4 cards and some FX series cards. Video Information You have one monitor in total. (Écran par défaut) 1 is attached to RADEON X300/X550 Series 'RADEON X300/X550 Series Secondary' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop. 'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver. 'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver. PLEASE report all this information when submitting a problem report, especially anything related to per-pixel skinning. We don't know what's in that Dell you bought last July or the notebook the office gave you. Per-pixel skinning requires your drivers to at least claim to support the functions needed for |
Neil Banfield
Reply #72 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:32 PM
Reply #72 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:32 PM
Drakkner: Only enable the option for corrupt titlebars if you have that problem!
Regarding the unskinned apps, are you sure you didn't have ctrl pressed when they loaded?
Neil Banfield
Reply #73 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:32 PM
Reply #73 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:32 PM
lauramoore: What kind of problems did you have with movie maker?
Neil Banfield
Reply #74 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:33 PM
Reply #74 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:33 PM
laurentfr: The skin (assuming you are talking about the arrow skin) defined the maximized state to use a black bitmap rather than a semi transparent look.
lzvk25
Reply #75 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:59 PM
Reply #75 Thursday, October 6, 2005 3:59 PM
I uninstalled WB4 and installed WB5 and the lower part of my applications as well as the Windows Taskbar DO NOT appear skinned like they did with WB4. Do I need to modify something ? Please HELP !!!
WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:
STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
You have one monitor in total.
(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family
'Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:
STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
You have one monitor in total.
(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family
'Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
ama02
Reply #76 Thursday, October 6, 2005 4:05 PM
Reply #76 Thursday, October 6, 2005 4:05 PM
I finally tried it...but first unloaded WB (4.6) and IconPackager, and any other Stardock products..then I updated SDC to latest, and ran the update for WB5.
I held my breath at restart and....
It seems to be working just fine, as far as I can tell. Thanks so much Stardock developers! You are the best!
I held my breath at restart and....
It seems to be working just fine, as far as I can tell. Thanks so much Stardock developers! You are the best!
| WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report: STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+ WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC. WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins. You have one monitor in total. ( SyncMaster 213T ) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver. 'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver. |
sixshot
Reply #77 Thursday, October 6, 2005 4:38 PM
Reply #77 Thursday, October 6, 2005 4:38 PM
it's good to see that bugs are being fixed so promptly. But there's something that's been bugging me for a while... what about the premium skins? I revisited the old Pixtudio site and found that the PixOS suite hasn't been updated in eons. In fact, it never got updated since it was released according to their site. The PixOS WB skin is perhaps one of the few handfuls of skins that're designed well... not overly bulky and not too minimalistic. Will some of the older classic skins get a refit or update to take advantage of WB5's featureset? Or perhaps the question should be... Do premium skins ever get updated anymore?
Brokensquare
Reply #78 Thursday, October 6, 2005 5:50 PM
Reply #78 Thursday, October 6, 2005 5:50 PM
MUCH better than prev. beta...impressive! Now let's see what the skin designers can do with the new capabilities! A note - 1 small problem I have is that the 2 checkboxes at the bottom of the wbconfig troubleshooting section...I can/t read them!(just black stripes)..I wonder what they say...? Other than that, all seems to work fine so far - YEAH!!! Well done to all at Stardock! thanks!
WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:
STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
You have 2 monitors.
(Dell P991) 1 is attached to RADEON 9700 PRO
(Plug and Play Monitor) 2 is attached to RADEON 9700 PRO - Secondary
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:
STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
You have 2 monitors.
(Dell P991) 1 is attached to RADEON 9700 PRO
(Plug and Play Monitor) 2 is attached to RADEON 9700 PRO - Secondary
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
ama02
Reply #79 Thursday, October 6, 2005 6:49 PM
Left box: Never use per pixel borders on a skin
Right box: Enable if you have corrupted titlebar buttons & text backgrounds
Hope that helps!
Reply #79 Thursday, October 6, 2005 6:49 PM
| I have is that the 2 checkboxes at the bottom of the wbconfig troubleshooting section...I can/t read them!(just black stripes)..I wonder what they say...? |
Left box: Never use per pixel borders on a skin
Right box: Enable if you have corrupted titlebar buttons & text backgrounds
Hope that helps!
lilstarfish
Reply #80 Thursday, October 6, 2005 6:58 PM
Reply #80 Thursday, October 6, 2005 6:58 PM
So far so good =D
Feedback from my sytem (XP Sp2, P4 3.2GHz, 2GB Ram, ATI Radeon 9800XT):
a. Overall very fast and it feels quite stable for being a beta release.
b. It took a while to find the "Apply this skin" button etc. since they are
not in a very intuitive place.
c. Loading new skins was confusing since no matter how many times I loaded
a skin it didn't appear with the rest of the skins in the main window.
Only by pooking around and finally finding it hiding in another window
was I able to apply KoL_'s Vista v2.0 which works teriffic in WB 5b =D
d. Did I say it was fast?
Congratulations to Stardock team for a very interesting update!
Feedback from my sytem (XP Sp2, P4 3.2GHz, 2GB Ram, ATI Radeon 9800XT):
a. Overall very fast and it feels quite stable for being a beta release.
b. It took a while to find the "Apply this skin" button etc. since they are
not in a very intuitive place.
c. Loading new skins was confusing since no matter how many times I loaded
a skin it didn't appear with the rest of the skins in the main window.
Only by pooking around and finally finding it hiding in another window
was I able to apply KoL_'s Vista v2.0 which works teriffic in WB 5b =D
d. Did I say it was fast?
Congratulations to Stardock team for a very interesting update!
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Reply #61 Thursday, October 6, 2005 12:35 PM
Thanks for the help Septimus. Maybe I'll give that a go after I get home from work later on tonight/early morning. Other than the fact it seems to take 30 or 40 seconds to change a skin, everything else seems to be working hunky-dorey here.
DD