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Darco

Join Date 01/2003

Appearance tab messed up after WindowBlinds uninstalled

I recently took my 2 computers to the shop to have them install the new Nod32 antivirus, both were ready to expire. I had WindowBlinds on both of them and had Nod32 on both for the last year.

One computer is new and I told them to not touch any settings or add any updates. The other computer is 8 yrs old and had both WindowBlinds and nod 32 for the last year with no problems. My Daughter uses that one.

Well she called them and told them her taskbar was disappearing on some WindowBlinds, unknown to me. I could have killed her. Well he uninstalled WindowBlinds because he said it was buggy. Now she has Windows XP blue shell on her computer and wants to go back to WindowBlinds. When she goes into Display Properties she gets a error on the appearance tab that she describes as a box with inactive windows and active windows neither of which she can click and on top of that is a message box. All she can do is x out of it.

Can you tell me how we can get rid of this so we can reload WindowBlinds again. The old computer is Windows XP Sp2 Home, on a HP Pavillion computer with a lot of space left.

Thanking you ahead of time.

Darco

aka Darlene

windowblinds

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Bebi Bulma

Join Date 04/2004

+209

And this is why you never trust your computer to those kind of people (I'm a "if you want it done right, do it yourself" type of person

). [Man I'd so walk in there and beat that guy with a very large ethernet cable]

Anyway, sounds like he took it upon himself to uninstall WB without unloading it first. Try reinstalling WB and see if that would work.

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DigitalCHET

Join Date 05/2001

+27

One would hope he actually used the uninstall and not just deleted the install folder.

I'd be *really* mad myself if any technician (or anyone else for that matter) decided to take it upon himself to uninstall *any* software on my PC without first consulting me. That's just ridiculous.
I would let them know I'd never do business with them again and tell his superiors as well.

Reinstalling may help, but if not, you may have to get your hands on the Zapper tool which is designed to remove all files and modifications associated with Stardock software before attempting a complete reinstall of WindowBlinds.

Good luck.

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One would hope he actually used the uninstall and not just deleted the install folder.

only if it wasn't installed through SDC

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I don't know what you mean installed by SDC, if you mean that viewer that you can view wincustomize and get the latest updates, I never use it. I install my WindowBlinds from the letter they send me with the links to all of the things that I have bought. My WindowBlinds are still the 4.6 version. I do not want to update to the latest because these were working fine. My motto is if it isn't broke don't fix it. I had a lot of trouble with WindowsBlinds 3 which they updated to 4. because of some date problem written into the script. I used that old stardock browser to update to 4.6 and have been there ever since. In fact it is not even on this new computer.
It's not a matter of money because I subscribe to WinCustomise for the last 6 years because I love it and it is the least I can do.

Is that my only option to try to install WB again? I don't want to use that zapper because I have other Stardock things on the computer like Icon changer and Desktop X. I don't want to mess them up.
Darco

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And this is why you never trust your computer to those kind of people (I'm a "if you want it done right, do it yourself" type of person )

LOL that's how i am..if it's broke i'll fix it myself...you never know what those people will do to it.

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Can someone answer a question for me? If I try to reload WindowBlinds on the old computer with the
appearance tab stuck in Display Properties can I install it over Windows XP which it is on, being I can not change it to Windows Classic. Or does it have to be on Windows Classic? Is there another way to change it to Windows Classic if that is the case, or can it only be changed to Windows Classic in the Appearance Tab.
Darco

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Neil Banfield

Join Date 04/2001

+1080

From the description it sounds like the 'error box' is the usual Windows XP preview which is an inactive window with an active window with a messagebox on top.

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Is that my only option to try to install WB again? I don't want to use that zapper because I have other Stardock things on the computer like Icon changer and Desktop X. I don't want to mess them up.
Darco

from what I recall of previous posts of long ago.... reinstalling may be the best option

the zapper doesn't auto run - once opened, you have to pick the app you want uninstalled
(move any downloaded skins you want to save, to someplace safe 1st)

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vStyler

Join Date 11/2004

+919

What is the correct link to the Zapper now?

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Bebi Bulma

Join Date 04/2004

+209

https://www.stardock.com/files/odnt_zapper.exe

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vStyler

Join Date 11/2004

+919

Cheers

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Thanks for the input everyone, just answer one question. I can't remember. Do I have to put in on Windows Classic to install WindowBlinds 4.6 or can it be installed on Windows XP. I can't remember how I did it.
darco

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to install? don't matter.

to change skins? still don't matter.

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Thanks Birchur,
It's been so long, I knew there was something about Windows Classic involved. I guess that is just for uninstalling it.
This is the reason I am on 4.6 I hate installing and uninstalling I never know what to do, and 4.6 is working perfectly for me. Something always goes wrong when I change versions and I don't want to mess things up.

If I did change to version 6 and I don't use SDC, would I have to uninstall in in control panel and then use the zapper to get the rest out? Just in case I want to upgrade someday.

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XP is an operating system

2 windows styles - classic and xp

wb is actually skinning classic as far as I can tell

when you unload WB (turn it off) your theme (at least for me) reverts to Windows Classic-modified (same as using windows classic and going into properties and changing the colors)

going from one version (4) to another version (5) or (6) you uninstall the old version and install the new

updates within a version (as in 6)= if you do it with SDC you have options - straight update without uninstalling is one. me, I was just letting SDC auto archive the old while downloading and installing the new, then I switched to downloading the new straight to archive - then I would unload and uninstall the one running - then restore the new one just archived, now I just let SDC update the version after downloading the new straight to archive for backup in case the update borks something

not sure about uninstalling without SDC, always used SDC

no need to uninstall and zap, just zap

I basically use SDC for checking for updates, archiving backups, uninstalling and installing

the chat is also useful if you need some help and the forums are slow

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From the description it sounds like the 'error box' is the usual Windows XP preview which is an inactive window with an active window with a messagebox on top.

This message from Neil was correct when I looked at the computer. The WindowBlinds were uninstalled in the control panel and I deleted the one WindoBlind folder that had only some things in it in Program files.
I then reloaded Windows 4.6 and everything skinned except the task bar and start menu. The start button changes and when Internet Explorer is open everything looks skinned. The Display Properties is skinned all over like normal. It is just the bottom task bar and the start menu that is not skinned.
Is there something I can do to fix this? Any suggestions?
Darco

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