Help!! WB is messing up my computer!! (with screenshots)
I don't know what to do anymore... I tried everything!
Friday, December 16, 2005 by Link632 | Discussion: WindowBlinds
I have been using WB5 for about 4 days now and I haven't gotten any types of errors, whatsoever, up until a few hours ago.. I didn't even do a thing! I was using Mormegil's ChristmasTime theme (and ran it for 4 days without errors), then when I decided to come to WinCustomize.com to browse for new Objects and such, my computer hung up on me! I don't know if that had anything to do with my visiting wincustomize.com, but it couldn't have been a virus or a spyware because I just performed a general maintenance on my computer a few hours earlier (and I have been doing that since January).. Then I restarted my computer using the button on my CPU and when I entered my Windows XP account, the entire "start" bar below (the whole thing, not just the start button, but the entire bar -- sorry, i have no idea what it's called) didn't even show up! The only thing that showed up was the digital clock, and that's it.. Ok, hold on.. I don't know where I'm going anymore. I think it's better if I just show you a screenshot and maybe you can just help me out and tell me what's wrong (also, I tried uninstalling+re-installing WB5, but apparently, that didn't fix my problem)..
http://tinypic.com/ionkf5.jpg
That's my whole screen.. No "start button" and the entire "bar" at the bottom of the screen is messed up! WB also got rid of my Windows XP theme.. I tried accessing through desktop/right-click/bah blah but then that didn't work.. all it's showing me is nothing (sorry, I'm really, really sleepy and i have been trying to fix this problem since 5 PM (and now it's about (9:00).. so, that should explain why my grammar is skewed. i haven't even eaten yet!) I tried righ clicking on "My Computer" and going to "Manage" / "Services" / etc. (as one poster explained in another thread), but that didn't work -- it didn't bring my Windows XP theme back..
Please help me! I am totally clueless about what's going on! And once again, excuse the grammar. I'm typing this up real fast because I'm about to collapse.. 
I really hope you guys can help me! Please!
Moderator Note:
This issue is caused by the cracked version of WindowBlinds. Don't run the cracked version of WindowBlinds and this won't happen.
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Reply #322 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 5:44 PM
i have some question what will happen if I add some WB5 style in my wB4 thats actually made for WB5-it will simply not work
But what if I take the files contained in the demo and copy them over to my wb4 folder-will that work then? yes it does !but why is the buy button gone now???
would this action called stealing ????
I mean its running without any problem till now sorry but i have to ask cause if its legal i will simply keep the wb5 :
Reply #323 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 6:40 PM
Mixing WB4 and WB 5 files is a VERY bad thing to do. Core parts are very different.
Regarding your legal question, I believe it would be against the EULA.
Reply #324 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 7:12 PM
| a VERY bad thing to do |
To translate....there is a very good chance you will damage your system. Just chat to the people who attempted 'cracks'...
Reply #326 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 7:44 PM
no but it works fine ! i cant believe it myself
i dont care abou my system to restore i have a program that installs everything for me cause iam retarded
Reply #327 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 9:04 PM
| frogboy, you may very well be right. the crack could have been the cause, not some intentional revenge code put in by stardock. |
I happen to believe it is not and never has been "intentional revenge code" that caused the problems the crackers are complaining about.
Just for grins, though, assume for a moment that SD was able to intentionally cripple warezed versions - since uninstalling WB "solves" the problem and your system is left unharmed, I say kudos to SD.
One of the many ironies here is that a coincidental flaw in the crack & the crackers' complaining in SD's own forums may have alerted SD to a previously unrecognized anti-piracy tool. Assuming that's true, and I have no idea if it is, as long as uninstalling the crippled hacked version leaves your computer pristine again, I have no problem with that at all, and the crackers can complain all they want. It is especially funny to me that the crackers all say they were just "checking WB out" when SD makes a trialware version available for free.
Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #328 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 9:19 PM
So then i tab out and lot and behold what do i see? Windows blinds being all quirky the taskbar was skinned fine but no borders or any other parts of the skin worked.
So then i think ok this is nuts , i reboot , wala , windowblinds disapears from my system , cant load WB.exe nothing , ive tried everything and to no avail nothing. Now before you go spouting off that im using a cracked version blah blah , you better check your facts , ive been a paying customer of Object Dock and Wincustomize for years now , many years i might add. And WB 5 was no different.
This in no way shape or form is a warez problem you need to stop and think that just because this person that posted about his warezd version , oh NO! thats gotta be the culprit!!! , and your sticking to it also it seems.
Well im here to tell you , YOUR WRONG , WB5 has a major bug , one that has messed up my pc and one that im not taking lightly.
Reply #329 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 10:03 PM
Start with the trouble shooting info from within wb5. also what is your system config info (cpu, ram, os, sp #, etc...)
Maybe then people will be nice.
Reply #330 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 10:32 PM
I don't believe anyone has said "Only cracked versions of WB have problems" or "Exstasy is using a cracked version."
Rather than complain that you've somehow been unfairly accused and that WB5 "has a major bug" perhaps you could provide some information (in a new post) with enough detail that someone with the technical expertise to do so might be able to help you sort out what the problem "really" is.
Cheers,
Daiwa
Edit: Sorry, AAT1981 - you beat me to the punch as I was typing.
Reply #331 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 10:40 PM
| windowblinds disapears from my system |
Also, please clarify this statement....
Does this mean that the explorer shell is no longer skinned, or that you have lost files and/or sub-directory.
Could this possibly be an issue with the video adapter being saturated by the game, and failing upon trying to draw the shell z-order information (for any transparent/translucent borders) after quitting the game? I ask this based on the "Memory...." error message, which may be referring to the card and/or memory reserved for video resources.
I believe, that alpha-blending uses a lot of "buffer" resources to hold the z-order information.
Reply #332 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 11:15 PM
| Well im here to tell you , YOUR WRONG , WB5 has a major bug , one that has messed up my pc and one that im not taking lightly. |
No one has stated that WB5 is perfect. There are always programs to be excluded and there might be combinations that will cause WB to crash.
But there have been VERY few (any?) people that described the crack symptoms that have posted the troubleshooting text. Many of them also were not in the registered user database. That's might suspicious. Calling an undocumented user who won' tprovbe authenticity when they are haveing warez issues a thief seems like a good bet.
I hope you show as registered. I suggest you email [email protected] to get resolution. I saw in another post that they are backed up. It may take a while.
Uninstall via SDC, reinstall, post your config. We'll all try to help.
Reply #333 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 11:32 PM
i really need to take the time and try to fix my comp... not having explorer is a bit of a problem...
Reply #334 Thursday, December 22, 2005 12:30 AM
| i did manage to get WB open and looked at it, but i saw nothing peculiar in the text. same as always i think. |
Vanilla Ice ....the 'solution' is to actually post this info here, not presume to be able to tell by looking at it yourself. I know I trust Neil Banfield's determination of what 'went wrong' by looking at the data more than I ever could...you see, he wrote the proggy itself so will know what it all means.
The quaint bit is that this data can indicate whether it's a crack issue so [some] people are naturally reluctant to post it.
I would have thought that anyone professing to have a legitimate program who also is having very similar issues really SHOULD be posting the info...so that any genuine product issue can be resolved. That is why Neil is always asking for that info....to improve the product [if needed]....
Reply #335 Thursday, December 22, 2005 12:36 AM
The problem i am having is almost identical to the original posters , thats why this thread irratated me.
You want proof , here you go
WindowBlinds 5.0 System Information Report:
**edit** i would post my OD serial if you would like but that wouldnt be to smart of me now would it , hope thats enough =D
STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+ TRAY+
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.
(COMPAQ CV735 Color Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
Wblind.dll 2005/12/20 22:41:38
Wbsrv.dll 2005/12/20 22:57:44
Wbconfig.exe 2005/12/05 18:42:52
Wbload.exe 2005/12/21 00:04:40
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 16:37:00
Wbui.dll 2005/12/06 21:29:06
Tray.dll 2005/11/02 13:28:26
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 12/21/2005, 23:23:06
Machine name: PLAYGROUND
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
BIOS: BIOS Date: 01/26/05 17:26:53 Ver: 08.00.09
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 371MB used, 2088MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Reply #337 Thursday, December 22, 2005 1:19 AM
Reply #340 Thursday, December 22, 2005 2:16 AM
| No joy as far as my BSODs are concerned then? FYI it appears that only WB 5 does this, as I've tried a few from the 4.x familiy now, all with no problems. Might mention I'm on the latest ATI drivers (5.12 ain't it?). |
#321 by Neil Banfield
| No. We did have 1 report of something similar on XP 64 bit though. And thats based on 2003 server. |
In that case, can I ask if it is possible to e-mail you about a refund? I really don't want to go through a BSOD evey time I want to change themes or settings.
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Reply #321 Wednesday, December 21, 2005 4:17 PM