Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having issues.

What is the Full Version of Windows your running ?

What version of Fences are you running ?

AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. First your initial issue, i think, it is with Fences Desktop pages. Fences have Desktop pages build into it and it could cause new users some confusion on missing Fences and icons. If you not comfortable with it you can simply disable it and all Missing Fences and icons should reappear.

You can try purge and reinstall steps mentioned here : https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#reinstalling

Just make sure to re-download the latest version from your account. Reboot and retest.

Thanks

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Well that produces just what I've come to expect from this product. First, when the icons/fences disappeared, I never, ever came anywhere near any of the eight screen corners. I did come in contact with two screen edges when I dragged icons across from one monitor to the other. Of course, if Fences doesn't know how to deal with dual monitors … I'll just have to tell the folks at the office that we won't pay for and they can't install Fences; if it can't handle dual, or triple, monitors, we can't have it near any of our office computers.

So, anyway, I did disable Pages in the settings dialog. That restored a tiny portion of my icons to some fences that I never created, nothing at all like anything that I would ever create or allow to exist on my desktop. Must be some default created by Stardock. Why on earth would I ever have separate fences for files and folders?!! They are essentially the same thing and serve the same purpose.

Now as to purging, where is that in the User Guide? You managed to con an unpaid user to do the work for you. (Should file with FLSA for non-reimbursed work.) That doesn't mean that the paid staff can't at the very least edit the material and incorporate it into the User Guide. Oh yes, kind of pointless; it doesn't work anyway.

Back to my original question. Any idea how I can get my original fences and, most important, my original icons?

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having issues.

You might also check here https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#iconsmissing

AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

@Drohan. All very much to the contrary. By utilizing a well-structured ticketing system with appropriate categories and tagging, you then blend it in with the continuous development of your products. Every ticket that is created by end users has a very strong potential to result in software changes. (Even a ticket that results from user error or failure to read documentation would most likely result in software changes to make it more intuitive. (Failure to design software that is fully intuitive is the single gravest mistake that software developers frequently make.) Failure to read documentation would result in a revision to the documentation to make it more inviting, more in line with the way the software is used and less of the, "Here's the first dialog box. You put this in the field. The next field is … You put this in that field. Now click on the next button, Now, we've got this screen. Let's go over the fields one-by-one." That kind of documentation, which doesn't even rise to the level of process documentation. In fact it doesn't rise to being documentation. It is simply trash. As a manager, I'm sure you know that you can always spot a totally failed technical writer/documentation writer when a person writes "click on <button-name>," they self-identify as a total failure. (As you know, you click a button, not on a button.) And of course, the documentation I just described is also an absolute, total failure.

A ticketing system prevents this from happening:

1. The software is produced by the developer. If there is any documentation at all, it's about what the developer considers important, not what end user actually needs to know. There is no testing of the software to determine if it is intuitive to the end user.
2. An end user raises an issue in a forum. The software developer determines that it is a user problem, that there is no software quality control error, thus software development is needed. Now, I'm sure that your rules do not allow such horrendous things to occur, but trust me, they do in a few shops with companies who are disinterested in selling software. It gets worse, though.
3. The developer, maybe even others, provide the end user, in condescending tones, the way things ought to be done, every effort is made to ensure that they way s/he wants to do things, however intuitive that may be to the end user, is totally wrong. Emphasis is place on the absolute fact, following the very best of dictatorial cultist principles, that the only right thing for the end user to do is to twist and distort themselves into doing it whatever way the developer thought that it ought to be done. After all, the developer doesn't have to pay for the software and usually has no need to use the software on a daily basis. Obviously, they are the best people to determine the appropriate design.
4. Throughout Step 3, it is important to ensure that all instructions for twisting and distorting herself/himself given to the end user be as sketchy as possible leaving out steps randomly and always, always, always starting from the notion that the person who is supposed to follow these "corrective" steps is so totally and completely aware of the software, down to the most detailed, logical design, that they could do it in their sleep. It is vital that the instructions assume that the end user know everything abut the software including how to do everything that the end user may be asking about. (Of course, such instructions most certainly will not address the end user's questions. The end user does not know enough to ask any relevant questions. The end user is to be told whatever the developer deems it important for the end user to know. That's why it is essential for all with the company to employ a high level of condescension when dealing with  end users.)
5. Around Step 1.5, the end user will quietly start looking at alternatives to the software since, even if the end user has paid for the software, cutting one's losses and finding software with good support will be less costly in  the long run. (Did you know that there's a lot of options and alternatives with regard to Fences out there. I'm still evaluating the level of support, but some options are already looking good.)
6. Well you know how it ends. Suddenly, there's no response from the end user. The developer and his cohort pat themselves on the back. Obviously, the end user has learned, through their patient coxing, how to properly twist and distort himself/herself into their way of doing things. Just one problem. At a conference,, a group of people casually mentioned to some members of the developer's cohort that they were so happy that they hadn't purchased that software because they heard the horror stories about the software and support from the end user. They talked about how they had bought other software and had even been invited to provide their continuing input on the software design! Now, doesn't that just sound ridiculous?

Not true, and I have several separate fences for files and folders, it all depends on what YOU ( each user) uses Fences to accomplish. Not everyone uses Fences the same way you do.  I know of users here that ONLY use it for hiding icons quickly.

Lastly, as a user having been here for 15 years, ( and one that always has a year or two extra on his subscriptions) I can say that this company has excellent support. They will bend over backwards to help you, if you'll let them. yes, sometimes it requires a little effort on your part. I know how frustrating it can be.....if you checked the forums, you'd see me losing patience way too many times. but ultimately, we get it worked out, by means of me doing my part to help support to help me.

Ok, my rant is over. Carry on....