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WindowBlinds 5 BETA released

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WindowBlinds 5 BETA released

Bring Glass to Windows XP

from WinCustomize Forums

Stardock has released the first BETA of WindowBlinds 5.  WindowBlinds is a program that can completely alter the look and feel of the Windows GUI.  It does so by applying visual styles (skins) to your title bars, push buttons, Start bar, borders, etc.

The most anticipated new feature of WindowBlinds 5 is its ability to deliver glass effects to Windows XP user.  Technically speaking, WindowBlinds can do full alpha blended user interfaces now, that means that skins can have a variable level of transparency.  Numerous new features have been added to allow skinners to do reflective effects, shadows, smooth edges and more to their WindowBlinds skins.

WindowBlinds 5 also eliminates any dedicated processes to it.  When running WindowBlinds 5, no additional processes are needed anymore, it runs as part of the system.  WindowBlinds 5 BETA currently requires Windows XP (32-bit edition).  A 64-bit edition will be available with beta 2.  It should run on any reasonably modern video card. 

WindowBlinds 5 is currently only available on Object Desktop.  To get Object Desktop visit: www.objectdesktop.com.

Preview Guide

Beta 1 Readme

56,690 views 128 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Wow... this looks really awesome. It's still buggy at the moment (the joys of Beta), so I'll wait for a stable vesion for now.

Great things a-comin'.
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Installed without problems here. (Dell Inspiron 6000 with ATI Radeon X300). The beta is much slower to change skins than WB4.6 but this could be associated with the new skins. As per post #25 above, Access 2003 doesn't show the transparency effects on the borders, but all the other Office 2003 apps do show transparency (using Arrow skin).

So far so good.
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Have similar problems as everyone else.Logon Studio will not work and the new Beta will not support the Vista blinds that I downloaded previously.looking forward to next improved version.
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I had the same problem of being stuck in classic mode. I uninstalled WB and reinstalled WB5Beta and it now works. Nice job
Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I am having the same issue where nothing is happening and it is stuck on Classic Mode (although the normal XP themes from MS work).


I had that but i remembered I got a block notice from windows one care so I rt clicked on WB5 in Stardock Central and chose activate application..all was well it did get stuck a few times changing skins but it seemed to settle in after a restart....

P-4 2.8GHZ HT
1.0 GB DDR400 RAM
GeForceFX5200 w/ 77.77 drivers

WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:


WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

If you suffer visible corruption (overbright) on the frames and have a NVIDIA board then please be aware this is a NVIDIA bug. It has been seen on GeForce 4 cards and some FX series cards.

Video Information

You have one monitor in total.

(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra

'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.

'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
Reply #32 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Gotta love how programs pick and choose which computers to work on, and which ones not to work on. I'll just pray I'm fortunate I suppose. But, as a techie of sorts I would still like to find out what's causing it.. If that's possible when about 7 million things factor in. Lol
Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Installed WB5 beta, installation was fine and will diaplay the included skins quite well. Creates significant visual corruption on the menu bar of internet explorer and the base of the taskbar when using my preferred skin which is Kol's Windows Vista. Dell optiplex gx240, p4 2.6ghz, 1gb Ram, Gforce Fx5200 128mb dual head graphics card. I think it may be the NVIDIA bug issue. Either way I removed the beta and went back to WB4.6 pending the next release.
Reply #34 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I get that same Rundll error, but once I get those windows out of the way, it works fine...no biggie.
Reply #35 from WinCustomize Forums Top
OK had my share of issues, but now it's running like MINT, beautiful, deleted the old version of WB 4.6, updated my Vid Drivers, and it was worth the extra work and time, thanks guys for a beautiful product well done, and I can see it only getting better:
Alienware Notebook w/ATI Mobility Chipset 9600/9700 Catalyst Drivers 5.9, 1GIG RAM,
Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top
interestingly enough, I seem to be having a problem with the LogonUI since I installed WB5. it's causing my system to crash whenever coming out of a hibernation or standby state.



I have a problem when applying a skin with LogonStudio, after clicking apply my screen goes to a blank blue with no access and I have to reboot from the tower. Upon reboot, the selected logon screen is applied as normal but I get the following message:

LogoniuX.exe Application error.
The instruction at "0x00000000" referenced at"0x00000000" The memory could not be read. Click ok to terminate the program. Click cancel to debug the program.

I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2; P4 2.8; 1.5 DDRRAM; ATI 9800 256mb (Catalyst 5.8); Geforce GA-81PE1000 Pro2 mobo.

Apart from that small snag, WB 5 is as smooth as a babys bottom and applies all pre 5 skins without issue. Thank you Stardock, this version is by far the most awesome and I'm confident it'll get better and better.
Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top
At this moment it is more than I expected. Because it runs without flaws on my laptop as well as on my desktop.

My laptop is a Dell D800 (Pentium-M 1.7, 1GB of ram) with a Geforce 4600, with Windows 2003 installed. My desktop is a custom build P4 D830, with a Geforce 7800GTX.

It runs really smooth on both machines an I really love the shadows + transparent borders.
Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hmm,

I wonder if running: (Before WB 5 Beta Install)

regsvr32 /u jscript.dll
regsvr32 /u vbscript.dll

Would help correct some issues?

I've seen the commands correct everything from Windows Update issues, to Codec issues in WMP and other various WMP issues. Who knows? The Shadow I suppose.

Damn jscript and vbscript DLLs. Lol
Reply #40 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Cheers to alpha blending, jeers to pretty much everything else.

This could just be me, but it feels like you de-user-friendlied the hell out of Windowblinds. I loved the tray icon. I used it to edit the current skin, and to reload the current skin when working with SKS, or when I encountered an error. Plus being able to launch the WBConfig w/o having to go through the Display Properties was very handy.

As I've been fighting with WB5 to install correctly, I've tried to do an uninstall but whatever hidden process you've got it running as now won't release the DLLs in the WB folder. I can't kill the process because of the added ultra useful feature of hiding it from me. Looks like I'll have to do yet ANOTHER system reboot before I can delete those. Often when I've been working on a skin for hours WB tends to get ahold of a file (usually the block UIS) and refuse to allow me to edit it... being able to kill the WBLOAD was the solution.

I don't see what was gained from adopting the "zero footprint" feature... besides it looking at 1st glance not to use resources.

Errors encountered: (system info in screenshot) http://s91158756.onlinehome.us/Error.jpg
Reply #41 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Laoran, Just wanted to post this: Everything seems fine on my system after installing wb 4.90a[b].002 - the only thing different from you is my skins take about 20 seconds or thereabout to load after the "Please Wait" sign pops-up. I don't use the Logon app but most everything else works fine, IC Pack, Rt.Clk, Icon Dev, Icon X, SkinS, ObjectE, WindowFX, CurXp - nothing missing & all the older skins display great with all bit maps intact as far as I can tell...the Display Properties really look awesome as well!! This has to be the largest change over in the GUI department yet - you can really see a large chunk of each skin! My system is:

AN7 Abit Mobo, AMD 3200Xp 2.2mhz, WD Raptor HDD, Nvidia XfX 6600GT - O'Clocked slightly, NForce2 chip set, Corsair XMS Memory. I WAS going to install my ATI X850XT Platium Edition which I've aready spent $450 on....I'm very concerned with alot of people having ATI problems with this build - what do you think????? Being a tech I thought I'd run it past you. I'm very sorry others here are having so many large problems with this build!!! I know it's a BETA - all of us know the risks - but MAN; I'm really taken back with all this mayhem on so many systems!! These are not small bugs or glitches!! Thx if you can take the time to answer.
Reply #42 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I had the same problems as you did.I have a Dell Dimension 9100 with Radeon X 300 series and Intel Pentium D 2.80ghz; Logon Studio and Bootskin both reverted to the default Windows skins.The Vista skin i have from 'iyiniyin' was corrupted in the taskbar.Windows Explorer wanted to close because of protection against data execution.I am thinking that it is an nvidia problem ,too.Yhanks for the input.
Reply #43 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Since the installation of WB5 Beta I have had major issues with the title bar of every window that was skinned with a WB5 version skin (IE: Arrow) being a very bright translucent white and the side and the bottom being noticably darker (especially with the latest Stealth skin). Switching skins was a MAJOR pain in the fact that it took forever sometimes crashing or maxing out my CPU.

My specs are as follows:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Overclocked to 2.4Ghz
BFG 6800 GT/OC @ 425Mhz/1.1Ghz (Driver V.78.01)

On the other hand my Laptop:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
ATI Xpress 200M w/ 128 MB RAM

Runs WB5 flawlessly!

The only diffrence between my two rigs configuration wise is that on my desktop I had been using UXTheme Multi-Patcher (Neowin Edition) 4.0.

So I uninstalled WB5, rebooted, reversed the UXPatcher, rebooted, installed WB4.6, rebooted, updated to WB5, rebooted, and ALL MY PROBLEMS ARE FIXED (for a Beta ). Yes it still takes longer in WB5 to switch skins than it did with WB4.6 , but at least I havn't encountered any crashes, hangs or graphical anomalies.


SO to make a long story short, for all of those who seem to be having problems (I'm not saying it will cure them but it sure as hell couldn't hurt), get rid of your patched UXTheme and see if it helps.
Reply #44 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I thought it was clear that x64 doesn't work. Next time you say you're running an Athlon64, regardless of the number, SAY WHETHER OR NOT YOU'RE RUNNING WINDOWS XP x64 EDITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Otherwise, you're just getting the hopes up for people like me.
Reply #45 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Laoran, Just wanted to post this: Everything seems fine on my system after installing wb 4.90a[b].002 - the only thing different from you is my skins take about 20 seconds or thereabout to load after the "Please Wait" sign pops-up. I don't use the Logon app but most everything else works fine, IC Pack, Rt.Clk, Icon Dev, Icon X, SkinS, ObjectE, WindowFX, CurXp - nothing missing & all the older skins display great with all bit maps intact as far as I can tell...the Display Properties really look awesome as well!! This has to be the largest change over in the GUI department yet - you can really see a large chunk of each skin! My system is:

AN7 Abit Mobo, AMD 3200Xp 2.2mhz, WD Raptor HDD, Nvidia XfX 6600GT - O'Clocked slightly, NForce2 chip set, Corsair XMS Memory. I WAS going to install my ATI X850XT Platium Edition which I've aready spent $450 on....I'm very concerned with alot of people having ATI problems with this build - what do you think????? Being a tech I thought I'd run it past you. I'm very sorry others here are having so many large problems with this build!!! I know it's a BETA - all of us know the risks - but MAN; I'm really taken back with all this mayhem on so many systems!! These are not small bugs or glitches!! Thx if you can take the time to answer.


George,

I don't want my post to become misleading in any way. I'm in no way affiliated with Stardock or Wincustomize.com, besides being a customer. Therefor, I would highly recommend directing specific issues and questions towards their support. I'm just a techie in general is what my statement meant.

However, I'm my professional "customer" oppinion. I'm seeing with my friends and many many others on here that certain ATI cards are just having a lot of issues accepting WB 5 Beta. I'd imagine it's because they are running older drivers and need to update them. That would be the case for my friends, although I'm not sure if they've tested it with the newer drivers for their cards. I'm also noticing a lot of AMD Athlon 64 issues as well. As far as myself, I run an 2 GHz Intel P4 w/ 512 L2 Cache. So, I would be difficult to perform a thourough analysis besides reading the support threads. Hopefully, my insight can help you in some way and also the community. I'm not the biggest expert in any way, and of course, not affiliated with Stardock or Wincustomize.com so I'm not sure what I can figure out over the ones who've actually designed the software and know it inside and out. I'm just a Hotel Night Auditor with freelancing techie support and can occassionally solve "some" windows-based issues people have.
Reply #46 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I thought it was clear that x64 doesn't work. Next time you say you're running an Athlon64, regardless of the number, SAY WHETHER OR NOT YOU'RE RUNNING WINDOWS XP x64 EDITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Otherwise, you're just getting the hopes up for people like me.


Dude, when your PC is equiped with an Athlon 64 (and mine with an Intel 64) it doesn't mean you are automaticly running Win x64. My PC (Pentium 4 D830) is also just running Windows XP (x32).
Reply #47 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thx Laoran....I would direct support questions to SD/WC, but I have a feeling they have their HANDS FULL helping others far worse off than me....the only minor thing is no system tray icon...it shows up on my start panel & desktop (which I had previously). It's just that I don't want to lose all my skins to this if possible. Thx anyway - I appreciate the time taken.
Reply #48 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You have one monitor in total.
(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.

Having the same Logon issue. Also, after rebooting, my monitor flashes back and forth for about 10 seconds then all is well.

On a minor note, being a windowblind skinner, I sure do miss the little things like the tray icon. It's so easy to make a change and then right click to reload. Here's hoping it (of all things, LOL) gets put back in.
Reply #49 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thx Laoran....I would direct support questions to SD/WC, but I have a feeling they have their HANDS FULL helping others far worse off than me....the only minor thing is no system tray icon...it shows up on my start panel & desktop (which I had previously). It's just that I don't want to lose all my skins to this if possible. Thx anyway - I appreciate the time taken.


George,

Not a problem. I will answer any questions you have and try to resolve any problems you do. As a person that can't sleep when I have technical issues, I understand the frustrations of others. My doors are always open to you and others having problems with the software. I will for sure put time and effort into correcting, or at least attempting to correct any issue that I can with my own knowledgebase.

As far as the tray icon. You probably seen I have the same "problem". I don't believe it's due to anything besides WB 5 Beta being more integrated with Windows though and I wouldn't worry about losing your skins if you plan on just keeping WB 5 Beta installed. .. Even if you plan on going back, I don't think you'll have any issues with losing them. And if like me and you worry a lot, then just open up Windows Explorer, copy the skins directory and paste it in your My Documents folder for backup. Can't say how many times that's helped me in other non Stardock product related instances.
Reply #50 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thx again Laoran...just one more thing...correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't there some kind of DELETE button on the WB Configuration window?? I've checked my settings there & can't find it - also in my Display Properties I think there was one??? When I click the Appearance Tab all the buttons are live: WindowBlinds, Effects, Advanced, Enabled Colouring w/Gamma - all of it seems to be there except DELETE. I have to manually go into the Windowblind folders from OD & do it there....I always like to delete anything thats been updated like MikeB314's StealthOS wb skin which he says is for WB5 ONLY!! I do that anytime something is updated to prevent the kinds of conflicts associated with older skins already installed!!