WindowBlinds 6 for Neowiners

[Sam Symons Veteran]

Aww :( my Stardock subscription ran out a day before this was released. I'm stuck with the Beta, but it's still good :)

[BoDEAN]

So, do more XP users use this software than Vista? Seems like people running XP want it to look like vista, and use this program to do it.

[lordtinuviel]

ok, i have Vista and XP...in XP i dont have any issues with WB6 no problems with plus, etc, in Vista yes i had the msgplus problem but after the update is workin now.....in vista i have the following issue:

i have WLM 8.5 open here like u see in my desktop:

but if i close WLM and re-open it again this happens:

why do this? any ideas? in XP that doesnt happen

one more thing:

can I disable Theme Service in Vista like in XP?

Edited October 5, 2007 by Daeron Tin

[simonlang]

my wlm 8.5 window gets bigger and bigger and bigger every time i close and reopen it ... unloading windowblinds helps.

definitely a bug - no msgplus installed btw.

and today so many apps started to crash for strange reasons i had to unload windowblinds ... now vista seems to work more stable again. :|

[lordtinuviel]

my wlm 8.5 window gets bigger and bigger and bigger every time i close and reopen it ... unloading windowblinds helps.

definitely a bug - no msgplus installed btw.

true, i dont know if u have Vista or XP but this bug only happens to me in Vista

[simonlang]

@Daeron Tin?viel

yes, i have vista.

the lack of compatibility with vista really sucks, i might not pay for windowblinds at all if they don't improve it ... as nice as it might be otherwise... :rolleyes::

[BoDEAN]

I thought WB6 was stamped with "Vista Compatible?"

[Pas]

i'm running it on vista ultimate 64 with no issues

[trimegistro]

One of the things I've noticed was that It didnt transfer all my skins but left a few in the Windowblinds folder. No idea why it left some out....

[ThePitt]

Finally I got the chance to test myself this new version of windowblinds. And I usually dont write anything about any "pimp my OS" applications because obvious reasons.

All I can say, is AMAZING. Its the FASTER and the resources FRIENDLY of ALL windowblinds versions.

This one is BY FAR faster and by FAR alot better than the previous version.

I dont know what they did but this time they did WELL. Congrats to the team who develop this version.

Running like hell on XP and for some reason (I usually get tired very fast of "pimped" desktops) I still using and for several days I dont back to the classic (very classic) XP.

There are some points that (still) need to work, for example, they couloring. I want to change the taskbar color. It works with some themes but with many dont. Yes, I used the HSL based couloring and with many of black themes doesnt work.

I dont know how windowblinds works with Vista, and to be honest, I dont care. Because I wont use vista EVER, heh.

The final words, if you want to buy some version of windowblind BUY THIS ONE. It worth!.

[Inter_XYZ]

I tried to see how looks Damond skin in XP but it returned me in Classic Skin. Why?

[ShadowVlican]

true, i dont know if u have Vista or XP but this bug only happens to me in Vista

i can verify the WLM bug doesn't happen to me in WinXP SP2:))

[lordtinuviel]

i can verify the WLM bug doesn't happen to me in WinXP SP2 :)

i have both and in XP doesnt happen

[X_Naruto]

Hmm this new WB 6 looks pretty amasing, but I plan to stick with WB 5 for a while.

My main PC I am using windows XP (because I like it better), and my back up (my laptop) is Vista Home Premium. I do not skin my laptop, but I do skin my PC. So the enhanced WB 6 Vista features don't appeal to me at all right now.

As far as WB 6 being so much faster: WB 5 is soooo fast itself, plus with having 1x2 gigs of GSkill DDR2 PC6400 Ram (4-4-4-12), I don't think I'll have any resource issues to the point of needing that extra boost from WB 6.

If it was free, id use it.. Till then UXTheme patch ftw.

It's unlikely to ever be "free"... but tbh they're only asking for 20 dollars, which imo for what you get is well worth it, and more.

Seems like another resource hog app to me.

Comments like this really annoy me.

Can you post up evidence to back up your claims? Maybe benchmarks? Something? What resources is it hogging exactly?

I'm sure you were going to point them out for everyone.

[Rascally]

Okay. So i FINALLY took the plunge, and after installing and un-installing WB6's trial 2 or 3 times over a week and a bit, I threw caution (and slightly less than $19.95 since I'm Canadian...woo, I saved 75 cents!) and bought my first-ever Stardock product.

Now, where in the blue hell is this oh-so-magic ability to import msstyles? I can't find it anywhere. Not in WB6, not in SkinStudio (yes, I have import enabled in it, and i'm in advanced mode. I still don't see it.) :|

[simonlang]

my trial expired yesterday and i think i won't buy it. it's not bad, and fast. but some apps are crashing for no obvious reasons - and they don't with wb deactivated. os is vista with all the latest updates and patches.

[Guest jgrodri]

how is this not spam?

I know that you are a real company, and you actually make a petty solid product. But you are advertising a product you sell, here on neowin.

While i have nothing against you or WB, if it was some other member talking about some webservice he sells, the topic would be deleted. I feel pretty strongly against this double standard, despite your best intentions.

[Rascally]

how is this not spam?

I know that you are a real company, and you actually make a petty solid product. But you are advertising a product you sell, here on neowin.

While i have nothing against you or WB, if it was some other member talking about some webservice he sells, the topic would be deleted. I feel pretty strongly against this double standard, despite your best intentions.

The worst part is, the advertising works, I guess :| I mean, I bought WB6 this morning, and now 18 hours later, I'm actually wondering WHY I bought it. There's not really any decent VS's out there right now that I like that are recent.

Wait no, that's not the worst part. The worst part is, even with SkinStupido 6 (misspelling intentional there; yes I know version 6 is a rewrite, but you forgot to include a couple things, one of which is actual usability. I learned how to write ruby code faster than I've figured out how to use this dumb program) I can't even import windows XP-era .msstyles to make them all WB'ish. And don't even get me started on the Vista ones. There's a few really decent .msstyle-type ones that have been coming out recently. But, of course, do you think you can import them into WB format? I believe the quote from Brad himself, who of course started this thread, went:

I'm afraid not. It's not likely to happen any time soon.

In Windows XP, the bundled visual styles (.msstyles) actually had a documented skin format.

But in Windows Vista, the .msstyles are basically a glorified bitmap resource that is a huge pain to disect.

And don't even get me started on the complete lack of any documentation for SkinStudio, and the useless docs for WB 6.

Man, after writing all this, I'm almost embarassed I gave Stardock my $19.95. Good luck ever getting a refund of course. Although, I'm getting more and more irate as I write this. Maybe I'll actually write a few bloggers and columnists about this. Although, last time I tried advocacy, I ended up forming what became the Residential Broadband User's Association, became a total pain in Rogers Cable's ass, appeared in half a dozen major Canadian newspapers and on TV... I dunno if Stardock wants that kind of publicity. ;) (Hell, I don't know if *I* want that again. :|)

Wait, no, the worst part is, I paid money for this product, and here I am, again using the normal Aero style.

[Rascally]

As an addendum, I actually wanted to mention two points I just came across:

1) I actually forgot I found the port Brad (I think) did of what was my absolute favorite XP VS of all time, Royal Inspirat, by one of my two favorite VS skinners ever, the legendary Stefan Ka. It's not a vista skin by any means, but at least I'm still giving WB a shot.

2) That may not last for long. I love how whenever you go from Aero to any WB 6 skin, it causes the following to actually crash:

- messenger live plus

- OneNote's traybar plugin

- DWM

And that's just what I've noticed crashed so far. I'm afraid to go into problem reports. :p Although DWM is more a case of it being ****y because a "composited theme isn't in use". Well that's fine then, you dumb service, why are you taking up 50 megs of RAM then? :| (I can't blame Stardock for THAT disaster. haha)

[Island Dog]

Now, where in the blue hell is this oh-so-magic ability to import msstyles? I can't find it anywhere. Not in WB6, not in SkinStudio (yes, I have import enabled in it, and i'm in advanced mode. I still don't see it.)

You can import XP .msstyles with SkinStudio 5. You can download it from here.

A quick tutorial can be found here: http://islanddog.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=147196

And don't even get me started on the complete lack of any documentation for SkinStudio, and the useless docs for WB 6.

As has been pointed out, SkinStudio 6 is still in the beta stages therefore throrough documentation is not available. A SkinStudio tutorial is being created.

That may not last for long. I love how whenever you go from Aero to any WB 6 skin, it causes the following to actually crash:

The issue with Messenger Plus was fixed in a update. Make sure you have the latest WindowBlind updates via Stardock Central.

[Rascally]

You can import XP .msstyles with SkinStudio 5. You can download it from here.

A quick tutorial can be found here: http://islanddog.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=147196

As has been pointed out, SkinStudio 6 is still in the beta stages therefore throrough documentation is not available. A SkinStudio tutorial is being created.

The issue with Messenger Plus was fixed in a update. Make sure you have the latest WindowBlind updates via Stardock Central.

Uh, I bought the thing yesterday. It gave me a link to download. Wouldn't that be the latest link? And where the hell is Stardock Central?

And as for SkinStudio 5, I did just that, except that it then broke SkinStudio 6.

Man, you guys have no sense of customer service, I swear.

[Pas]

SDC can be downloaded here. After you've registered your purchased copy of WB6, go to the Object Desktop area in SDC and you'll find the latest build of WB6. Make sure the "Show pre-release versions" box at the bottom is checked, too.

[martin10018]

<Lengthy rant deleted>

There is a trial version available. Don't blame Stardock if you're to stupid to use this to test if it fits your needs.

Maybe I'll actually write a few bloggers and columnists about this.

The bloggers can't help you if you're to stupid to use a trial version. :p

The thing that you're right with is the misleading link on the Stardock homepage to the preview of SK 6. And there is no word on the page that this version cannot convert msstyles. The download of version 5 is not easily available on the homepage. Stardock should clarify that on the homepage.

I'm not a Stardock fanboy though I'm an OD subscriber. They definitely have their problems supportwise (HEY STARDOCK, the Classic skin is still broken on my German XP system in the latest beta). But you can't blame them for the quality of the skins made (and I'm with YOU on that, the best skins are released in msstyles format).

[Island Dog]

And as for SkinStudio 5, I did just that, except that it then broke SkinStudio 6.

Man, you guys have no sense of customer service, I swear.

How exactly did it "break" SkinStudio 6?

I don't know about your comment about customer service, as I'm trying to help you even though this is not an official support channel.

Many of the current WB skins are being updated by their creators for WB6/Vista, and people are working on more skins. I have successfully used plenty of XP .msstyles on Vista, including LE Black.