WindowBlinds 5 Beta 1B released

Lots of fixes and tuning

from WinCustomize Forums

WindowBlinds 5 Beta 1B was released today. It is a major update and improvement over yesterday's beta and should clear up most of the issues for those users who ran into problems.  But it's more than just a bug fix, additional performance improvements have been put in as well. 

Users of WindowBlinds 5 have also reported that it is significantly faster than WindowBlinds 4.6 (which in itself was already very fast).  That's because WindowBlinds 5's engine has been further optimized for drawing and resizing and taking advantage of the latest video cards.

A few notes about WindowBlinds 5 Beta 1b (4.90b):

  1. We don't recommend using it with WindowFX yet.  We have a new WindowFX about to go up that has been optimized to work with WindowBlinds 5.
  2. Skin changing should be faster.
  3. Right-Click on title bar override to make it roll up the window has been added for Alpha-Blended title bars.
  4. RunDLL32 issue resolved.
  5. WinZip issue resolved.
  6. Min/Max settings respect settings.
  7. WB Config now has support for helping those with ATI 9000 that have corrupted mouse buttons.
  8. Corruption with Kol's WinVista skin has been resolved.
  9. Taskbar corruption (graphical) issues should be fixed.
  10. LogonStudio compatibility issue resolved.

All in all, a busy day for the WindowBlinds team.  You need to have Object Desktop (www.objectdesktop.com) in order to get access to the beta. 

69,259 views 153 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Sounds good, and it's great that SD is making these fixes so quickly.

On this fourth computer, I still haven't gotten the new version to work. In the troubleshooting section it says that the product isn't activated. However, when I go to OD to activate it, it gives me an "Error 5." If I right-click the WB4 entry, activated is grayed out. What is the problem?

Additionally:
Could this be the problem? I mean...The fact that it sets my computer to Windows Classic, could that be simply because WB 5 "isn't" activated?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Great! My laptop had the rundll error but it's all good now after this update. Great work guys!
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

What a quick update.  Great job to everyone.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
when can we expect this new WinFX to be released to us? my taskbar is so plain without the shadow *dont' feel like using Y'z shadow - i love WinFX)
i am also still receiving strange black boxes in my wbconfig window (see my other post: Link
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
After updating I am still getting windows classic only. Wb configuration appears to be functionless. Applying through display properties leaves windows classic. XP homesp2
When I try to activate (is this the same as registering?)I get the message failed to update account info.

WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:

STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds has not been activated correctly on this PC. Please activate it from SDC.

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

You have 2 monitors.

(hp f1903 flat panel monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
(hp f1903 flat panel monitor) 2 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
'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 #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Wow!! I didnt have any problems with the first v5 release, but this one seems faster for me. Still running great!
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
if yours like mine sayes it's not activated try this

Copy activate.exe from within the sdcentral install folder in to the windowblinds


then try a skin!! then it will ask you for your e-mail and OD code.

then your in

it worked on mine
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Copied the .exe and it working. Yahoooooooo!

Super fast. Working like a charm I love you guys.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ooh!

There's no more Notification Area icon, so I must now open WindowBlinds "by hand."

No big deal, though, because when I do try to run it, WB croaks -- freezes.

I uninstalled both WB versions (4 and 5) and tried to install version 4 again -- the ol' tried-and-true companion.

No go. It's as if it installed version 5, which, as I said, doesn't work.

A few other programs have joined the boycott, such as Icon-X, which will not "take" its serial number no matter how many times I wait for the install file to download.

How do I get version 4 back so I can have at least *something* to play with?
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I was having problems with the previous beta of WB5 locking explorer.exe when changing skins, and this one is doing it too. When the skin applies, the window borders, fonts, and color scheme changes but the window scroll bars and alpha transparent window titlebars disappear. The taskbar doesn't update and becomes unresponsive. I have to kill explorer.exe using Task Manager and restart the process. Once I do that, the skin loads the rest of the way but I usually end up losing some tray icons in the process so I end up logging off and logging back in. Otherwise, both betas work fine for me. I can't wait to see more cool new skins - and the new WindowFX!
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

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.

Still seeing black boxes in the WBConfig windows. (ex. User Overrides)
Minor bug: still showing classic MDI buttons. Not an issue right now of course.
Still seeing the old "Windows is shutting down box instead of the logon, but start up is fixed.
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Whoa. I pasted activate.exe into the folder and it worked fine. Amazing.

Brad, everyone else at SD, this update is amazing. Can't wait till you get it working on x64 so that I can use it on my main compy. /me bows down before you.
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The Cliff-Walking Fool. You can go into settings in Stardock Central and uncheck pre-alpha releases or whatever it says. Then update and update WindowBlinds4 and it'll downgrade itself to 4.6. Good luck.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Guy's this windowblinds is realy fast

one thing when i change to a diffrent skin i get a few glitches but after you reboot it's fine.

Great great work!!!!
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I was having major problems last night, uninstalled 5.0. Today I re-installed 4.6 then re-installed 5 (latest) and whalla! No problems at all and yes, it's a lot faster than 4.6. Also, I'm having only one problem with WinFX. Minimize works fine but when I restore from the taskbar I do not get the effect, just a quick restore. Great job guys , this ones a winner. I really thought hard about renewing my OD license this last time but now I'm glad I did. I'm getting ready to upgrade this thing to Win64 . How stable are we going to be with OD on Win64? Last time I tried it .... not to swell, was pretty dissappointed . Had all sorts of anamolies. Should I stay or should I go?
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WB5 doesn't work just yet on x64. But I think we can expect full support from SD for x64. So if I were you, I'd stick with preparing that 64-bit, but not installing it quite yet . Soon, I hope, soon .
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Simply put: Wow. Everyone involoved in the WB5 Beta project deserves to be commended. I primarily use WB (and the rest of OD) on my business laptop to make my coworkers think that I'm some sort of genius. One can get used to the "Oh my god! How did you do that? Can you get mine to look like that? You're so smart!" comments... Thanks, SD!

Anyway, WB5 beta works like a dream. The alpha blending, the pixel smoothing, the optimized performance, and all with little to no footprint to boot! This is a truely remarkable product. Kudos to you all (and to the skinners who make me look good)!!
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Awesome work guys. I knew a little patience and FAITH in Stardock would have me in WB5 bliss. I couldn't get it to work yesterday but installed today and it's smooth sailing now! Looks fantabulous
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My brother still can't get it to run for some reason. He copied the activate.exe in (as I had to do), but still no go.

-----------------------------------
WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:

STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

You have one monitor in total.

(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X (Microsoft Corporation)
'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.
-------------------------------------------

Any ideas? Could it be his driver? It might not be updated.
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Applies skins extremely fast now! Wonderful!!
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have noticed this little thing on my volume meter



WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:

STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

You have one monitor in total.

(Default Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200
'NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 ' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'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 #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
getting black boxes behind the text on the task bar

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.

(Default Monitor) 1 is attached to MOBILITY RADEON 9000

'MOBILITY RADEON 9000' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'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.