WindowBlinds 4 Alpha 1 released

https://www.stardock.com/order.asp
from WinCustomize Forums
WindowBlinds 4 Alpha 1 has been released. Version 4 is a major rewrite of WindowBlinds that is designed to be much more low level than previous versions of WindowBlinds, use less memory, and skin a lot more.

The main features of WindowBlinds 4 include:
+ Skinning of the command prompt
+ Skinning of pretty much every part of the Windows OS including the explorer task panes (shell styles), and many small areas that users may not have noticed before not being skinned but will almost certainly notice being skinned now.
+ Skinning of lots of dialogs and notices that Windows XP itself doesn't change normally such as the logoff screen, the transition dialog, and more.
+ Smart painting, a new technology that makes WindowBlinds much faster and in some cases almost as fast as running "classic".

The alpha only is available for Windows XP users. Subsequent builds will be released for other versions of Windows. It is currently only available on Object Desktop. Follow the link if you want to purchase or upgrade Object Desktop which comes with DesktopX, ObjectBar, WinStyles, IconPackager, ControlCenter, and much more.
17,945 views 26 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hmmm, is there a way to tell an app not to inherit cloring options? I have Blackcomb (amazing theme!) running, and it set my text to white, which is fine with the theme, but I can't read my links in Opera using their standard skin anymore. I would like to be able to set it to black just ofr that app. I tried setting windowblinds to only skin the titlebar for Opera, but it still inherits the colouring scheme.
Thanks in advance for any input you might have.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I am also having problems with some of the taskbar showing just black on some of the WB skins...
Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WogWaEE: Alas, there is no way to change colours for just one app, as it is a systemwide setting. In IE you can force some things that are set to standard text colours to be a specific colour - maybe there's an option to do that in Opera?
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Question: I bought windowblinds 3.5 and I dont have object desktop. Will I be able to update to 4 when all the bugs are fixed? And if so will I have to pay another $20?
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If you bought it recently, probably not - maybe someone from Stardock could confirm this?

If you do end up having to upgrade it's historically been $10 for current users.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Sorry - get rid of the "not" in that sentance.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i am running vox so i am running a skin that is WB4 aware.

i got the command prompt to be skinned thanks to the help from woodbridge. however, mozilla form elements are still jacked.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
so far so good.. only problewms I've had are disappearing systray icons or partially covered systray icons. displaying the clock in the systray seems to fix the glitch though. I did get a memory at address 0x???? could not be read error the first time I loaded WB as well. but I haven't really had any issues that make me want to change back, the speed improvements alone are enough to stick with WB4.. keep up the great work!!
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
THis version is working quite fast on my system and I even have the skinned command prompt however I don't have skinned task panes. Is there some special setting for this that I am overlooking?
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Woo!

Finally the speed is almost up to par with the Visual Styles. Now this is a good thing. And since it skins the command line, it even have an edge. However I can't click the menu options in the command line. You know, like "properities".

Anyway, this should be enough to drive most VS-people back to WB. I will stick with it for now, at the very least.

PS: Colony rocks!

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Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Are people who can't get the explorer task panes using a non-English version of XP? There may be a problem with non-English versions of Windows XP not skinning the task panes according to other reports on the newsgroup.
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm almost done fixing up my skin to include the new options...(THANKS FOR MAKING ALL THIS WORK FOR ME STARDOCK!)

It's definitely improved the perceived speed of my old PIII laptop. Things render just a little faster. I like the shell skinning a LOT...I've almost completely transformed my system from the default Windows look in every respect.

I love this company. I swear to god.
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I can't seem to get my tiled backrounds to work

Otherwise this is the best yet! Fast..fast...fast
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The Nvidia theme works fine but after I loaded the alphia WB on top ove the regular wb program the icon link doesn't work. I have to go to display to set things. Other than that this looks great.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Currently tweaking the hell out my skin, and I found a typo in SkinStudio, in case the powers that be are watching...

IN may of the Text Layout dialogs, the word "Disabled" is spelled "Diasbled."
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It's fast for sure, and skinned task panes have been on my wishlist for a long long time. For some reason, it doesn't skin my command line window. Hm...
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Mark: You need that option enabled - click the Advanced button in Display Properties, it should be there.
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Not as stable as previous version, but I think final release will be better? Haven't noticed any speed change on a P4 2.8Ghz. You definately cannot allow it to skin Adobe Acrobat v5 because it does something to the functionality of it and when you try to use the program it just goes away (closes the application)??
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Agree with the other comments about it being very fast and seemingly very solid for an alpha version.

Couple of things not working include the skinning of some applications like WMP and Windows Messenger, both of which are pretty minor issues. Also, apparently the changes I made to the skin in WB don't translate over to WebBlinds, but it's possible that they didn't under previous versions
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Pheonix gets all messed up with this beta. Pretty slick looking though.
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Very slick and fast. Have found that I have to disable it to run some full screen apps/games(Morrowind and a very few others)otherwise I get an annoying flicker of the "hidden" window frame. Overall VERY Stable for an alpha!
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
So since this version is just out for Windows XP users so far does that mean that we're actually going to see a new Windows XP style icon for the .exe? I tihnk it's kind of funny how Object Desktop is all about cutting edge customization, but the programs themselves, and the OD icon are all still old school. Tee hee.