What is going on with Fences??

Fences windows will not stop randomly movong

from Stardock Forums

Can someone tell me how I can stop the Fences window objects from continually moving around the screen on boot-up, restart, log back in etc.

Driving me mad keep having to move them back to the position I set them up in. I recently moved all my icons out of their separate windows (the whole point of using Fences!!!) into one big window because moving one window back to its proper position is better than having to move six. Did nobody test any of this?

Ridiculous...

stardock software fences
7,937 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Is this happen on Fences 5.53? Fences 5.53 come with a better layout engine. You might need to Start from fresh, don't used your saved layout. Setup the layout manually all over again. Save it and see if the issue still there after reboot. Also, review this guide: https://stardock.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SHC/pages/1261666307/Fences+and+Multi-Monitor+with+Docking+Stations.

Note the part on.

As of 5/22/2024, new installations of Fences 5.53 will have the “Backups” setting “Store my layout on a per-multimonitor-configuration basis” enabled by default. Existing installations of Fences will need to manually configure this setting.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi Basj,

 

Thanks for getting back to me promptly.

 

However, I just don't think you get it, sadly.

I am not even going to bother with all your work arounds, snapshots, resetting explorer etc. Why not? Because if a user has to do all that just to get the "fences" to stay put, then the product simply is not fit for purpose. I hope you can see that. 

Many many people use multiple monitors. I absolutely know I am not in a minority here. You need to get this software working properly with multiple monitors or just not sell it because you can't solve the problem. I am very sad that I wasted my money. Money that I know I will not get back, right?

 

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

It's really very simple. Just update Fences to version 5.53 and reboot. Once your system has been rebooted, open Fences and go to Backups and make sure "Store my layout on a per-monitor-configuration basis" is selected.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

I also am having exactly the same problem. On any restart or login the Fences have moved mostly to the left end of my wide screen. They're on top of each other and half the icons are out of Fences. I've re-installed Fences and no improvement. At least I've been able to go back to a saved screen BUT now I can't every saved screen comes up with the same problem. I have way too many icons on my desktop and Fences hides them nicely but when it's not working my desktop's a mess, re-arranging them back to Fences is about a half day chore and this is my 2nd time the backups didn't work. This may seem a small deal but with a 34" screen (3440 x 1440) there's a big mess. At this point I don't know if it's worth doing it again. As I said on another post there's iTop easy desk which does most of what Fences does and it's free. I didn't go to it the first time I had to rearrange the desktop but I may now. 

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

From what I know, things might need to be rearrange since Fences 5.53 changed it layout engine to help on layout issues, such as Fences moved after GPU driver updates. Fences might need to be manually rearrange for this changes and saved. Should be one time thing. But to be sure, I have forwarded this issue to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Might need more information on your system. Please provide below information.

  1. Windows full build number. Use Winver.exe
  2. Monitor/s resolution
  3. Monitor/s scale factors (100%,125%, 200% etc)
  4. Monitor/s Connection type (VGA, HDMI, DVI, DP, USB etc)

Thank you.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks, I'm pleased someone is taking this problem seriously.

build 23H2 {22631.3447}

monitor resolution - 3440x1440

Scale was 200% , I've put it to 100% to see if that helps.

Connection DP

Assuming that the scale isn't a problem (it hasn't been until the latest versions) could I go back to the last known stable version? I'm not sure ther's anything in5.5 that's important. I'm going crazy trying to put in iTop.

 

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting frank, reply 4

As I said on another post there's iTop easy desk which does most of what Fences does and it's free. I didn't go to it the first time I had to rearrange the desktop but I may now. 
End of frank's quote

I suspect you promote another (inferior) product in our forums because you believe it will motivate us to act differently or change a design course.  It does not. Client experience and satisfaction, however, do. 

Quoting frank, reply 4

I also am having exactly the same problem. On any restart or login the Fences have moved mostly to the left end of my wide screen. They're on top of each other and half the icons are out of Fences. I've re-installed Fences and no improvement. At least I've been able to go back to a saved screen BUT now I can't every saved screen comes up with the same problem. I have way too many icons on my desktop and Fences hides them nicely but when it's not working my desktop's a mess, re-arranging them back to Fences is about a half day chore and this is my 2nd time the backups didn't work. This may seem a small deal but with a 34" screen (3440 x 1440) there's a big mess. At this point I don't know if it's worth doing it again
End of frank's quote

When someone installs Fences 5.53 with a prior version of Fences 5 already installed, it will keep the Fence 'layout' option they had.  Most have 'Store my Fence group positions on a per-screen-resolution basis'

While we need to know if that process - keeping the old setting - is causing issues, we have repeatedly asked clients experiencing issues to set it to 'Store my layouts on a per-monitor-configuration basis. 

While there may be a need to adjust Fences thereafter, we very much want to know if that solves your issue long-term (post multiple reboots and under multiple monitor configurations).  This is detailed more here

https://forums.stardock.com/528046/get;3931457

Lastly, with that option set, upon reboot, there may indeed be a short delay between when the desktop is rendered and when Fences does its thing (arranges the desktop).  In other words, if you reboot and things do not immediately seem correct, give it a few seconds before suspecting something is wrong. 

The reason for this, Fences wants to ensure that the desktop (on all monitors), is fully started before it acts on it.  

Note to moderators: Please keep me informed of what they have set when reported and their results from doing this process.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager