Vista start button displays incorrectly

I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate. I installed WindowBlinds 5.5 and tried out several skins. The start button orb on the taskbar no longer displays correctly:

o the orb displays with a black background
o the orb doesn't readjust when the taskbar is resized
o there is XP-style 'Start' text superimposed over the orb


Here's a visual:






My assumption is that I installed a skin intended for XP which left residual information somewhere in my settings.

When I log in with other accounts on the same system, the problem does NOT occur.

Before I try uninstalling WindowBlinds, does anyone have suggestions on a course of action?

Thanks for your time.






Your computer has a Windows Experience Index base score of 4.8

Your Windows Graphics Experience score is 5.9

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 5 (5.50 (build 100 x86 - Vista Edition))

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

(Dell 2001FP (Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6800
() 2 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6800

Wblind.dll 2007/02/21 16:07:20
Wbsrv.dll 2007/02/21 16:08:05
Wbconfig.exe 2007/02/15 13:35:52
Wbload.exe 2006/03/13 17:54:14
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 16:37:07
2,047 views 5 replies
Reply #1 Top
Try setting it to 'classic' then reboot. See if it then applies a skin correctly.
Reply #2 Top

I have never seen anything like that with WB before.

I would switch to classic & back to aero and see if that helps.

Reply #3 Top
Neil, It appears the "paint the window's flag" option for the skin is no obeying.
Reply #4 Top
Thanks for the replies.

I repeatedly tried the following:

o start with Aero -> switch to a WB theme -> switch to Aero
o start with Aero -> switch to Classic -> switch to Aero

Neither seemed to work.

I'll try Fuzzy Logic's reboot trick to see if that works. (I'm at work right now, but will try when I get home.)


Related to reboots, I did notice the following:

When I reboot and the desktop initially displays, the orb looks fine. After a couple of seconds, the orb turns into what I described earlier. So, I'll try messing with my startup settings to see if I can isolate the culprit.

I tried stopping the WBVista.exe service with the hope that would cause a change, but it wouldn't let me stop it.

More to come later this evening...
Reply #5 Top
I tried the reboot trick as well as uninstalled all Stardock software and the problem still didn't get resolved.

I hated to do it, but I just created a new account on my system and transferred all my settings over to that new account. I realize that doesn't help anyone who encounters this problem in the future, and I'm sorry about that.

[I'll leave the posted images alone for another couple of days in case someone wants to grab them, and then I'll remove them.]

Thanks for everyone's help.