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Troubleshooting (aka When in Doubt, Exclude)
We believe that WindowBlinds can be made to work on all systems, but you have to play a role in that process by taking the time to exclude anything rocking the boat on your system.
Updates to WindowBlinds, as they are made available, can be found on the Download page at
http://www.windowblinds.net. Object Desktop users, please download updates from the Component Manager servers.
When updating WindowBlinds, be sure to follow the directions in the installer. Essentially, you want to make sure WB is not starting on boot (Startup Settings & News tab), reboot to clear it from memory and unlock the DLL, and then update. If you do not follow these steps, the main WB DLL may not be overwritten and errors may occur.
Don't forget to visit our news server at news://news.stardock.com/stardock.windowblinds.
Feedback
When providing us with feedback in either the newsgroup or e-mail to wblinds@stardock.com, it is important to provide as many details as possible about your system. Some of the major items include: operating system version, revision of Internet Explorer, video card, resolution/color depth, skins being used (whether something is happening with UIS1 skins like Console as well as the more common UIS2 ones), other applications that are loaded, etc.
Always attempt to make sure your drivers are as updated as possible as well.
Startup Errors
Loading from the registry/crashes on load
By default, WindowBlinds is configured to load from your registry when your computer starts (see the
System tab for more information). Though there is a dialog that allows you to abort this process, if something is conflicting while loading, you may want to consider creating a shortcut in the Startup group for WindowBlinds (make its working directory the path to the WindowBlinds directory). Alternatively, start it manually from the desktop when your system boots.
Using WindowBlinds
How do I configure WindowBlinds?
Right click on the WindowBlinds icon in the system tray and select Configure WindowBlinds. Alternately, double-clicking on the WindowBlinds icon again will invoke the Configuration window. There is also a WindowBlinds icon in your Control Panel.
Your program doesn't work/my apps are crashing!
Slow down, take a deep breath. To begin, unless WindowBlinds is loaded, it is not changing anything on your system (which is mostly true for when the Disabled skin is applied as well, though WindowBlinds is loaded in memory then).
Odds are that there is one application running that WindowBlinds is having difficulty getting along with. To narrow this down so the app can be excluded, try the following.
Set WindowBlinds to not load on startup, reboot, close any apps that loaded when Windows started, and now start WindowBlinds. Start your applications back up one at a time and attempt to determine which one is causing the conflict. Add this app to the exclusion list (see the
Per Application Settings tab).
Don't forget about the Ctrl-key exclusion feature either (see Tips and
Tricks).
To recap: try various combinations to determine the problem app and exclude it.
There is a crash when I disconnect from the Internet
If you are using a proxy like WinGate, add its .EXE file to the exclusion list.
My skin listing is empty
Use REGEDIT and make sure the Path key at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\WindowBlinds\WB5.ini\Installed is pointing to the WindowBlinds directory.