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WindowBlinds 5 Beta 1B released

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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. 

69,264 views 153 replies
Reply #126 from WinCustomize Forums Top

ls_dragons: The current WindowBlinds 5 betas do not work on 64 bit windows.  This is noted in the readme.

We will be adding support for 64 bit Windows later in the beta.

Reply #127 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks - I just let Object Desktop updatemy WB installation and had not looked at the readme. Not a problem, I look forward to the update that adds support for x64.
ObjectDock - Access shortcuts and frequently used applications from an animated dock.
Reply #128 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've had 2 minor problems with the new WB: 1. Tray icon is gone. 2. Can't erease the skins.

I've also had 1 problem with the new IconPackager: Doesn't recognise the "icl" files.
Reply #129 from WinCustomize Forums Top
dash elliot, don't forget to activate the skin... Thats what did it for me.
Reply #130 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I just wanted to pass this on to whomever: "YZ Shadow" can cause the drop-down menues to turn black during mouseover, also black spots in the WBConfig interface. Shut down YZShadow and all is ok. (with all the nice effects WindowBlinds has going, dont need an extra program to produce shadows anyhow)
Reply #131 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks Neil, after uninstalling and reinstalling it works now.

Do you have any recommandation for a graphics-card with Dual Head, which will support per-pixel-borders? It has to be Dual Head, as I have two monitors attached and I don't want to miss either of them
Reply #132 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Regarding YZShadow, I am afraid this may well be a problem with that app and not WindowBlinds 5.  We will look into this to see if there is anything we can do about this, but I suspect the app is disabling the transparency on the menus.

On dual head cards, any modern ATI (9500 or better) or nvidia (6 series ideally) should work fine with per pixel borders in dual head mode.

Reply #133 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I can install wb5. Once installed I cannot change skins. Config only shows me the default windows skin. If I have Aura installed when I install wb5 it works fine showing glass effects, etc. When I try and change skins I get a screen for installing OBDC drivers and a message telling me that it can't find the database.
WB5 shows as activated.

I'm just trying to make my previous post a little clearer.
Reply #134 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I wish I could get WB5 to work. I've tried everything I can think of and everything that I've read. The first build they put out would install, but it wouldn't change skins. With this new build, as I'm installing it from Stardock Central, stardock central crashes as soon as it reaches 99% complete. I think it's in the process of copying wblind.dll to the program folder. Anyway, it won't work. Hopefully, they cool people at stardock will get all the bugs out soon. I'm not complaining, because it's still beta. But I really want to see all the neat new skins on my system
Reply #136 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Mr. Wardell when will Stardock plan to release the final version of WindowBlinds 5? Can you give us a guess or approximate date, month, year? I'm thinking between just buying the WindowBlinds 5 Software over the ObjectDesktop 2005 because I see no Vista Style Icons for Icon Packager. Unless there will be one as well? Also WindowFX 2.5, will that be in beta soon? It looked real nice from the screenshots. I'll play the wait and see. Microsoft should think about combining with your company. You guys come up with the best things. Innovative, something Microsoft is lacking right now.
Reply #137 from WinCustomize Forums Top
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.

(Écran par défaut) 1 is attached to RADEON X300/X550 Series

'RADEON X300/X550 Series Secondary' 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.

PLEASE report all this information when submitting a problem report, especially anything related to per-pixel skinning. We don't know what's in that Dell you bought last July or the notebook the office gave you. Per-pixel skinning requires your drivers to at least claim to support the functions needed for


A bug I've found.

Windowsblinds is well installed (posted troubleshooting report above), but Properties App (with Screensaver/Display and so on) is not lauching (nothing happens) when WB5 is running. Killing WB5 and then it works.
Reply #138 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i love windowblinds....
anything on when window fx will be updated?
Reply #139 from WinCustomize Forums Top
laurentfr: Please install the latest beta.  You are using an older beta.
Reply #140 from WinCustomize Forums Top
aurentfr: Please install the latest beta. You are using an older beta.


sorry, I just cut and pasted the report from my previous post earlier in the topic. I thought it would not be different as a report

I have the bug with the last beta unless one came during the night.
Reply #141 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Windowsblinds is well installed (posted troubleshooting report above), but Properties App (with Screensaver/Display and so on) is not lauching (nothing happens) when WB5 is running. Killing WB5 and then it works


same, same and same and also français
Reply #142 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Just to mention it so you know. I was able to get WB5 (after the first beta) to install on XP using the copy activate.exe method. However, the same method fails to allow me to installit on Vista beta build 5219 (still get the error 5). Odd
Reply #143 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ok guys i found out why i was having some problems with WB v5 (installing skins badly inc taskbar tabbes gosts ECT) when i uninstalled window fx 1.20(b) i dident unload it first so it was still runing in the background somehow. so i unloaded WB v5 reinstalled window fx unloaded it proply and turned it off then restarted WB v5 sorted


Now its running faster and better than WB4.6 (with on problems what so ever

hope this might help someone
Reply #144 from WinCustomize Forums Top
BoddhiC: The current version of the beta will not run on Windows Vista.
Reply #145 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks Neil - If that was in the notes I must have missed it.
Reply #146 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Apparently WB5 beta works well, big progress as regards the first version.
They stay, nevertheless, some important problems.
1_ The window of the loading of the program of Symantec (Parenteral Control) it doesn't go away and it stays fixed to the center of the screen.
2_ Her descriptions of the programs on the bar of the start are in second floor.
3_ With the function: you automatically hide the bar of the start the same bar it hides it with a vibration.
Presto per utilizzare WB 5b in queste condizioni!
I am waiting for a most stable version.

Windows XP H.E., Ati Radeon X600 HT, 3,6 CPUs, Sony Vaio RA 204.

Maurice.
Reply #147 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Two issues with WindowBlinds and Maxthon (MyIE2):

1) after loading a web page a white line appears (it disappears after scrolling the page) sometimes which is really annoying.The screenshot is from http://fileforum.betanews.com/:



2) as you probably know, Maxthon has tabs. When a new tab is opened (like the ones that shows a screenshot) and you try to maximize it the content of the tab is not drawn or refreshed correctly. You can test this issue at http://www.majorgeeks.com/ (just select an application and press Screenthos link: a new tab will be opened but not maximized; maximize it and see the content).

Both issues don't occur if WB is not installed (same system). It's a WB issue. I've tested several times... The tab issue happens with WB4 too.

I hope you can fix it!
Reply #148 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I hope you can fix it!


I can, sort of.

The problem with tabs not opening maximized in Maxthon is not new in WB5, though it seems more consistent now.

The white line thing is indeed new.

In both cases, a UIS1 skin will take care of it.
Reply #149 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well, it´s more then a week since an updated beta appeared. What´s the status? WB 5 installs correctly on my pc, but i can´t apply one single skin. I see i´m not the only one. I understand that fixing bugs takes time....but...perhaps a little more information what the status is?