Quoting DrJBHL, reply 33In a nutshell: You cannot have WB and VS simultaneously and have WB work. It won't work on an altered .dll file. End of story.
. Patching system files will prevent WindowBlinds from working properly as WindowBlinds is depending on "clean" "un-patched" Windows system files.
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Are you really sure about that ? How do you know ?
Well, I can tell you this : around from 2007 to 2009 I runned WB 6 on an XP SP3, together with some visual styles as well, and no problem at all. Of course some windows system files were patched ( uxtheme.dll for sure, I think even another 1 or 2 but I don't remember now...) . To switch from a WB skin to a VS - or VS to WB - it was needed just applying first Windows XP default skin ( from WB or from Desktop Properties, it depends what kind of skin was running, WB or VS). Then, once XP default was applied, it was possible to apply any WB skin or any VS, with no any problem.
The reason is very simple : WindowBlinds has got his own SKINNING ENGINE, and for skinning use his own files . Otherwise it is impossible to get everything skinned (taskbar, start menu, windows frame, progress bar, animations...) without no any system files patched !!!!
Do you want a confirm of this (though you should know...) ? Here it is : for example, sometimes I got some WindowBlinds and Pale Moon compatibilty issues, due to a conflict between WB skinning engine and Pale Moon HW acceleration...so I had to add Pale Moon to the WB exclusion list or disable HW acceleration in the browser to get everything working fine. Of course no problem at all with VS , because to apply a VS you don't need to run any kind of skinning engine ( VS works with some Windows system files - plus his own, of course, but that are just graphic modding - WB works with his own skinning engine ).
Well, on Windows XP this is FOR SURE, tested and guaranteed. I don't know about W7, I have to check (I started running some VS on 7 just recently ) but I'm nearly sure it works in the same way . Usually the system files requested to be patched to allow VS working don't interfere at all with WB . If I get WB working (I'll try first on a clean system ) I'll make some test (I can use a virtual machine as well) and I'll let you know.
- @ roflmfaoo -
The link you posted is for the installer of WB 7.3 build 309 . From CNET you get the WB 7.3 build 310 . I don't know which is better...not always newer means improved..
- @ - Wizard 1956 and DrJBHL -
Thanks for the link about reinstalling Windows. Very interesting...now I got a couple of question : I have got one DVD a Win 7 Professional 32 bit - bootable - with SP1 included, and one with Win 7 Professional 32 bit single installer package - Retail ( no SP1 included ) . The OS originally installed in my PC was with no SP1 included. In case I want to reinstall Windows, which one is better to use ? I don't know the build of these installer but they are from August 2011. However, I thnk build shoul be not a problem; if the OS is the same - W7 Professional 32 bit - I think original product key will work..am I right?
About backup : at the moment Windows backup is disabled, because I'm running Acronis True image 2011 Update 3 (Windows backup disabled means that Windows doesn't make automatically backup; If I want to make a Windows backup I have to make it manually ). To make a complete system backup - just to be able to restore if something goes wrong - I need a complete Disk (C:) backup + a complete "System Reserved" partition backup . Is it correct ? With "High Compression" option checked in Acronis backup settings it takes at the moment from 17 to 20 GB (of course I got an Acronis bootable CD and the backup is stored on a different HD )