Window Blinds 6 Vista Taskbar Icons get large and blurry after applying skin

from Stardock Forums
Ok, I am running Vista Business X64. Just updated to Window Blinds 6 (although it did the same thing with 5.5).

Everything works great for the most part, except whenever I apply any skin other than Vista's Aero theme, my taskbar (NOT QUICKLAUNCH) icons get large and blurry and pixelated, or too small and pixelated, or just the right size but blurry and pixelated... All I have to do to get them back to normal is apply the Vista Aero theme and sometimes and reboot is necessary, but they are back to normal, a nice size and sharp and clear.

It isn't even necesarrily that I need to just resize the taskbar icons using the "Active title bar" option in Personalize in Vista, because even if they are approximately the correct size, they become blurry and pixelated after application of any skin. And like I said, everything else about the skins are just fine.

Any ideas?
windowblinds
26,575 views 31 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Ok, lol, I answered my own question. All I had to do was reboot. Although this is still a bug that should be fixed. Anybody else that has this problem, just reboot and hopefully it will be fixed for you.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
ALSO, there should be an option that would lock the size of the taskbar icons so that when you change the skin, it doesn't change the size or clarity of the icons whatsoever.
Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I've got this as well now, or a variant of it. In my case the quicklaunch, system tray and start menu icons get pixelated and change size. It didn't happen immediately, but once I checked out and swapped between a few different skins all the icons got buggered up. Looks fairly horrible really....

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.0 (build 49 x86 - Vista Edition) - 64 bit OS

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
(SyncMaster 225BW/225BWG,SyncMaster Magic CX223BW/CX225BW(Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX

Wblind.dll 2007/10/01 11:46:20
Wblind64.dll 2007/10/01 11:46:04
Wbsrv.dll 2007/09/27 17:47:05
Wbconfig.exe 2007/10/01 17:35:33
Wbload.exe 2007/09/27 17:47:44
Wbhelp.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:07
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 17:58:21
Wbload.dll 2007/09/26 12:53:28
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
rear my icons are also too largely in quichlounch and in the system tray if I skin use has a registered version of windowblinds and Vista 64 hope the problem with the new update is solved
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
yup, same thing here. Running latest WB v6, ultimate x64 all patches.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ALSO, there should be an option that would lock the size of the taskbar icons so that when you change the skin, it doesn't change the size or clarity of the icons whatsoever.


I've the same problem in XP and Vista, Wb6 build 32.
Is there a way to LOCK the size of taskbar icons?

Did you fix this issue in a newest build?
Thank you
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Taskbar icons only change size with most skins on Vista 64 bit.

On Vista 32 bit they will never change size and on XP 32 bit they will only change when the caption size is considerably different to the OS defaults.

We are still looking into a way to convince 64 bit Vista to stop doing this resizing (it can be reproduced by changing the OS caption height too without WB)

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
I also have this bug too. My system area notification icon look big and blurry. It looks horrible. I wish I would have been aware of this bug before buying Windowblinds 6. Frustrating really. I am running Vista x64. I fix this "temporarily" by switching to aeros and then to a skin of my choice. The icons get big and blurry again whenever I reboot. Argh!

Your computer has a Windows Experience Index base score of 4.6
Your Windows Graphics Experience score is 4.6

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.0 (build 49 x86 - Vista Edition) - 64 bit OS

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
(Generic PnP Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS

Wblind.dll 2007/10/01 12:34:20
Wblind64.dll 2007/10/01 12:34:04
Wbsrv.dll 2007/09/27 08:27:05
Wbconfig.exe 2007/10/01 18:09:33
Wbload.exe 2007/09/27 16:42:44
Wbhelp.dll 2007/07/11 15:06:07
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 18:52:21
Wbload.dll 2007/09/12 18:58:28
Screen.exe 2007/09/26 12:53:52
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah this is a normal problem as Neil said. Easiest way to fix it is to load up a skin in SKS and set the Bitmap top frame height to 23 and reapply the skin.
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Ok i found it in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Stardock\WindowBlinds\xxx_skin diretory .. but cannot find UID files ...just .sss

Brgds,
Sergej
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
plus, you can instal the latest update (10-8). it seems to have corrected the large systray icons issue on my rig.
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
[100807 6.00 refresh]
---------------------------
Adjusted path handling for missing taskbar/start menu reports (neophil and others)
Fix for Adobe Premiere Pro on XP with per pixel skins.
Fix for sizing bar on some XP skins.
Fix for address bar painting with some Vista skins.
Fixes for Microsoft Money on XP and Vista.
WBConfig tweak for painting dropdown list.
x64 Vista systray icons with some skins should be happier now as well.
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
Yes this is now fixed.
End of quote


No, it is not fixed ! In WindowBlinds 6.09c(b).118 the icons in the notification area on my Vista x64 system are still blurred and ugly. Not on my Vista 32 system, there they are fine.
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
I've been having the same problem. Sometimes I have to reboot more than once and that is SUCH a hassle to do. And I don't even understand about going in and changing the .UIS stuff.

***************

Windows XP
Build 2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.1 (build 49 x86)

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

(Default Monitor) 1 is attached to ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M Series

Wblind.dll 2008/02/19 17:51:20
Wbsrv.dll 2008/02/13 16:15:10
Wbconfig.exe 2008/02/20 13:52:33
Wbload.exe 2008/02/14 11:05:14
Wbhelp.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:07
Wbui.dll 2007/12/01 16:43:05
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 17:58:21
Screen.exe 2008/01/11 12:14:18
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top

DnceForce: the issue mentioned in this thread was specific to the 64 bit Vista version of WindowBlinds.

The system tray icons are based on the size of the titlebar, so they will naturally resize depending on the skin.

Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well - I have the same problem and on the moment I unload WB and works with Vista Aero. When I load Windows Blinds my frames in windows sometimes disappear ;/ Amd I musy close it and run one more time :( I wait for some paths to VistaX64
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
This happened before on my XP machine.Now after the last update it is doing it again!!
I got a couple of .wba's to upload but can't take a screen shot!
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I can right click the desktop/properties/font size select large the w/out applying go back to normal the apply button will now be active apply and it fixes it (kinda)

but this overides windowblinds control of the classic colors so things that use those colors don't appear correctly!

Neil if you can help I would appreciate it greatly! :)