Windowblinds mysteriously kills any launched apps

from WinCustomize Forums
hey all
Long time OD user here.  Only recently, I noticed that after leaving my system running for days windowblinds get into a state where it will just kill any apps that I try to launch.  (explorer.exe, task manager, anything) At first I thought that I had a virus on my system, but I checked and double checked and found no virus or spyware on my system.  Then I thought it was because of Directory Opus .
(Digression to another problem: btw, Directory opus and Multiplicity does NOT play well together.  I have Multiplicity set up to switch monitor only when "shift" key is pressed.  However, sometimes when I move the cursor to the edge of the screen of either my main or slave computer, the other computer starts to try to copy things to the clip board...  What it is copying I have no idea.  And the copying attempt won't go away unless I actually do try to copy something from one computer to another...)

But I disabled Directory Opus and still the problem happens.  Finally I unloaded wb, and the problem went away, and I can launch new processes again...
The system that I have this issue is:
AMD barton 2500+
2GB DDR RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro
Hercules Game Theater XP sound card
160 GB HDD 2x

I have the latest beta WB 5 and uses Iconpackager too.  ( This problem has been occuring for months now, and I have gone through quite a few revisions of WB 5 and the problem is never fixed)

Please help
thanks

Edit: I have WINXP 32 bit SP2 installed
windowblinds
6,225 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hello Leth,

I will make technical support aware of this and they will get back with you as soon as possible.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

leth: Under the 'User Overrides' section, is the 'Only skin apps in the Inclusion list' option enabled? Could you copy the information from the Sys Info section and paste it here? If you add an app to the Per Application list that was previously crashing on startup, does this start up okay now?

Does your MP issue only occur with Directory Opus running? Which version of MP are you running?

Thanks,

-Mike
[Stardock Support]

CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hey jenny and Mike, thank you so very much for the help.

I do not have "Only Sking apps in the Inclusion List" option enabled.

My System info:
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.

(Dell 2005FPW (Digital)) 1 is attached to RADEON 9800 PRO

Wblind.dll 2006/07/14 17:23:04
Wbsrv.dll 2006/07/14 17:22:54
Wbconfig.exe 2006/07/13 18:37:40
Wbload.exe 2006/03/13 18:54:12
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 16:37:00
Wbui.dll 2005/12/06 22:29:06
Tray.dll 2006/04/13 17:29:04

[/size]

As for MP, the problem that I described does happen most often with Directory Opus running. The version that I have is MP Pro 1.05a.003 and I have noticed the problem in previous versions.
While we are on the subject of MP, I have another bug to report. On the computer that I just reported the system Information for, I have a logitech G7 mouse, with the latest Setpoint (v 3.0) installed. It acts as the slave system.
My primary system has a Logitech MX518 also with latest Setpoint program installed.

Now I don't expect the key mapping to carry from one computer to the other. But I noticed that MP seem to be trying to do something to "emulate" the mouse from one computer to the other. When I switch from primary computer to the slave computer, (which has G7 attached) and switch back to primary computer, the speed setting of the slave system will go completely out of wack. The mouse will suddenly move very fast and often inaccurate. The only way to fix this is to open up the SetPoint program and click either "Ok" or "Apply." Note that none of the setpoint setting is changed.

It seems to me that when mouse is switched from one computer to the other, MP uses a set of generic driver to control the mouse that is "foreign" to the system. But when the original mouse take back the control, the generic driver is not properly release its hold on the mouse.

One more weird thing I figure I report as well: Sometimes, (I have no idea why this happens) the mouse button configuration actually carries over from system to system... (ie. the back, forward button works!)
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

leth: If you add an app to the Per Application list that was previously crashing on startup, does this start up okay now?

When I switch from primary computer to the slave computer, (which has G7 attached) and switch back to primary computer, the speed setting of the slave system will go completely out of wack.

Do you mean that when you move from primary, to secondary, and back to primary, the cursor speed setting on the mouse connected to your secondary machine is off?

-Mike
[Stardock Support]

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
thanks for the reply Mike,

The problem with add the application to Per Application List won't help, since EVERY application is effected

I tried to re-enable wb, (I unloaded it and everything was fine) but my system just hung at the apply skin stage

Do you mean that when you move from primary, to secondary, and back to primary, the cursor speed setting on the mouse connected to your secondary machine is off?


Yes. It is not that the speed is set to a faster setting, but just that the way mouse is being moved is changed. For Setpoint there is an option that ask if you like to use the Setpoint implementation for speed and acceleration. I speculate that somehow, MP on the secondary machine changed that particular setting to "Use OS implementation".

The annoying thing is that the G7 mouse has ajustable sensitivity, and I usually leave it at 2000dpi (highest setting). But once the MP problem happens, the G7 mouse becomes very hard to control, cursor start to move very fast and imprecise.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

leth: What version are your video drivers?

I've contacted the WindowBlinds and Multiplicity development teams regarding the problems you're experiencing.

-Mike
[Stardock Support]

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Sorry for the late reply. Got caught up with work

Main system:

forceware 91.32

Secondary system:

Catalyst 5.11 I know this is old, but it has not given me any problem with games or other applications, so I didn't change it. (If it is not broken why change it right? )
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

leth: Thank you for the information, I've included this as an update to my report.

-Mike
[Stardock Support]

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thank you very much for looking into this. If you need more info let me know.