More WB Painting Bugs

Firefox, Thunderbird & Windows Explorer

for a while now i have been occasionally experiencing missing parts of the active window. it happens usually when clicking between open windows, and can happned to Firefox, Thunderbird or Explorer. It's easy enough to fix, just by minimising the window then restoring it, and happens just enough to warrant this post. the missing part can occur pretty much anywhere in the open window, and varies in size

an example:-



any ideas? thanks

running XP SP2, Latest WB
WindowBlinds 5.0 System Information Report:

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.

(Default Monitor) 1 is attached to MOBILITY RADEON 9600

Wblind.dll 2006/03/21 13:33:46
Wbsrv.dll 2006/02/05 12:58:22
Wbconfig.exe 2006/03/19 14:33:44
Wbload.exe 2006/03/13 17:54:12
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 16:37:00
Wbui.dll 2005/12/06 21:29:06
Tray.dll 2005/11/02 13:28:26
6,882 views 11 replies
Reply #1 Top
here's an example of Windows Explorer not painting correctly:-

Reply #2 Top
Is it always the desktop that paints, or can it show windows under it?
Reply #3 Top
I've had the same problem. But it's not always the desktop that shows. Sometimes it will paint parts of the active window black.
Reply #4 Top

Is it always the desktop that paints, or can it show windows under it?

Neil....I get this too at times.... and yes, sometimes you'll see windows under the missing 'bits'.

I've always 'assumed' it's because I am not using the 'latest' drivers but simply the ones packaged with my vid card.

Radeon 9600XT 256 meg [by Gigabyte]...

Reply #5 Top
Is it always the desktop that paints, or can it show windows under it?


on my machine it seems to only mis-paint when there is no other window beneath it, but other windows are open....just been playing around a but now, just opening some explorer windows, with firefox and thunderbird open, then swtiching between windows, and just had this mis-paint....




the white top left corner was where a window was under firefox....initially 'adblock' and the 'stumble upon' icons were not there, but painted when i moved my cursor over them

like Jafo, i haven't upgraded my drivers from the packaged ones and as they seem to work fine with everything else (including WB, bar this one tiny quirk), i've lacked incentive to experiment with newer ones...
Reply #6 Top
I have been experiencing this issue as well, especially when trying to access dialogue boxes where you cant read any of the options because where ever there is text is either all black or all white. Unfortunately, I cant resize or minimize and restore the windows (dialogue bozes just don't work that way). This problem wasn't specific to this build however, the problem was around long before as well. The only real solution was to unload WB, (which sort of defeats the purpose of having WB installed in the first place). Anyone know what we can do to avoid this issue or can it be fixed?

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #7 Top
Just started to look around the forums to see if other people were having this problem too, and this is my first hit. I've had to unload Windowblinds on my main PC because of this problem, almost exactly as described - parts of windows not updating properly, showing the contents of windows either underneath them or that were dragged across them. The minimize/restore generally works, but I hate doing that every time I switch windows, and dialog boxes (like the ones that ZoneAlarm pops up) are a particular problem - sometimes I know they're there (rotating through the active windows with ALT-TAB), but I can't view or access them, which with something like ZoneAlarm can effectively lock me out and force a reboot. WindowBlinds loads ok at startup, but within no more than twenty minutes, often much less, I'm having trouble viewing some of my application windows.

I recently replaced my NVidia FX 5700 Ultra with an ATI Radeon X1600 series (both with current manufacturer drivers), but the problem is still happening. I've been an Object Desktop subscriber for years, but this is happening so frequently that I've basically given up (reluctantly) on trying to run WindowBlinds. Help? I don't see any recent responses to this thread (or what look like official answers from Stardock), which doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling...
Reply #8 Top
i've now been using a skin designed for WB4.6 (Anion by danilloOc), though i'm using WB5, for over a week, and i have had no painting problems..

it must be a problem with per pixel skins...
Reply #10 Top
I thought it was just my drivers/chipset (latest Omegas on a Radeon 9000IGP) on my laptop, but apparently not. I've been seeing the same problem (dekstop/window beneath showing through holes in active window).

I've also had instances where upon opening a new window/program, any images in the blind that use alpa blending come out completely flat grey, or times when the blind simply disappears from the window (sometimes a minimize/restore fixes it, but some programs lose their borders/titlebar again as soon as they regain focus).

Using the same skins, same version of WB, and same drivers, it works fine on ym desktop.



WindowBlinds 5.0 System Information Report:

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.

(Generic Television) 1 is attached to MOBILITY RADEON 9000/9100 IGP Series (Omega 3.8.252)

Wblind.dll 2006/06/06 12:09:02
Wbsrv.dll 2006/02/05 12:58:22
Wbconfig.exe 2006/03/19 14:33:44
Wbload.exe 2006/03/13 17:54:12
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 16:37:00
Wbui.dll 2005/12/06 21:29:06
Tray.dll 2005/11/02 13:28:26
Reply #11 Top
've also had instances where upon opening a new window/program, any images in the blind that use alpa blending come out completely flat grey


yes, i've been getting that recently, usually after changing skins...

the gaps through to my desktop mis-painting, though, has been much better with the latest build when using per pixel skins...i can't remember the last time it happened