Colonel O'Neill

I found Overriding Standard Controls made explorer crash in a cyclic manner. Turning it off made explorer freeze but not crash (it works long enough for me to get at the tray icon). As soon as explorer finishes loading, the big dialog box shows up, but never while explorer is loading. Here's a zip of the logs. Just wondering, is your install a slipstreamed SP4 install or an RTM install then patched?

In the Windows 98 world, (http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=133221) 98 compatible drivers seem to be fading away. Do you think the 2000 drivers and apps are going to disappear from the internet soon? Should we mass download the legacy programs before they go extinct?

Everytime explorer is started, the memory manager throws an error. (Log attached.) This may be a hunch, but I remember something about SmoothText changing shared dlls. (Post #153). Could it be a problem with that? Because occasionally explorer will crash after closing SmoothText, but only once and is not repeated. Could it be looking for a loaded DLL that's no longer there? Just wondering. Can't wait to try the skinning features! (I can't get at the SmoothText tray icon now. )

The "Invader" warning showed up, as it should. And I added SmoothText to my trusted zone. Subsequently it errored regarding memory allocation. Text smoothing has returned, but explorer crashes every four seconds. The only difference with this computer and the other (working) computer is Windows Update. This one (the rapid explorer crashing) is fully updated through Windows Update. EDIT: More TextHook Logs [ 0.359] [1116, 624] - Caught exception when named object StandardBehavior tried to process message StdBehaviorDefWindowProcW, completion status = "TBehavior.ProcessMessage--Begin", SendCount = 528 [ 6.078] [1116, 1012] - Caught exception in PostSingleObjectMessage: finding named object Behavior,StandardBehavior, Message = StdBehaviorDefWindowProcW, SendCount = 531 [ 6.078] [1116, 1012] - Could not send message StdBehaviorDefWindowProcW to named object Behavior,StandardBehavior, SendCount = 612, NamedObject = $00000000, Active = False, AcceptsMessages = False [ 15.859] [1716, 1748] - Could not send message DrawRedirectAllowDrawing to named object Behavior,DrawRedirectBehavior, SendCount = 683, NamedObject = $00000000, Active = False, AcceptsMessages = False [ 15.859] [1716, 1792] - Window parent chain: [ 15.859] [1716, 1792] - TclSocket -- 196926 [ 15.859] [1716, 1792] - Caught exception when named object TaskbarAlphaManager tried to process message BehaviorWndProcRet, completion status = "BeforeCall", SendCount = 683 [ 15.859] [1716, 1792] - Message = $C06B, Window = TclSocket, WParam = $00000000, LParam = $00000000 [ 15.859] [1716, 1792] - Window parent chain: [ 15.859] [1716, 1792] - TclSocket -- 196926 [ 3.625] [1784, 1232] - Caught exception in PostObjectMessage: assembling named object list, Message = BehaviorWndProcRet, SendCount = 7541 [ 5.953] [1784, 1232] - Caught exception when named object StandardBehavior tried to process message BehaviorWndProcRet, completion status = "HandlingTabMessage", SendCount = 9079 [ 5.953] [1784, 1232] - Message = WM_PAINT, Window = SysTabControl32, WParam = $00000000, LParam = $00000000 [ 5.953] [1784, 1232] - Window parent chain: [ 5.953] [1784, 1232] - Shell_TrayWnd -- 917882 [ 5.953] [1784, 1232] - ReBarWindow32 -- 262952 [ 5.953] [1784, 1232] - MSTaskSwWClass -- 393998 [ 5.953] [1784, 1232] - SysTabControl32 -- 393994 [ 5.953] [1784, 1232] - Caught exception retrieving tab text for item 1, Count = 3, I = 1, CompletionStatus = Begin

When I start it, it can't find "FastMM_FullDebugMode.dll". But then it says "Access violation at address 00000000. Read of address 00000000." But then it runs (the tray icon is visible). Pulling up the Configuration window throws another 00000000 access violation, but the window opens. However... There is no smoothing being applied at all. Another strange thing is that my antivirus software didn't ask about a "malicious program" because normally the texthook would throw this warning.

I'm still really puzzled... A real install of Windows 2000 Professional to another newer computer. No VMware drivers. No 32-bit icons. No non-Microsoft patching at all. The pattern explorer crashes at is more constant than the older one. [ 0.265] [992, 884] - Caught exception in PostObjectMessage: assembling named object list, Message = BehaviorWndProcBefore [ 1.000] [860, 988] - Caught exception in PostObjectMessage: assembling named object list, Message = MouseTrackingMouseHasLeft [ 1.000] [860, 988] - Caught exception when named object MouseTrackingBehavior tried to process message BehaviorMsg, completion status = "HandlingMouseOver" [ 1.000] [860, 988] - Message = $C143, Window = Connections Tray, WParam = $0008011A, LParam = $00000404 [ 1.000] [860, 988] - Window parent chain: [ 1.000] [860, 988] - Connections Tray -- 65664

Moving the I386 folder to the hard drive worked! I just let the text-mode setup run from CD, and when it started asking about files, I pointed it to the hard drive's I386 folder (which was repeatedly asked). But all in all, great success!

It appears to do the same thing to Office 2003 applications...

Thanks for the response! I burnt a CD-ROM because I wanted to use it on an older desktop with no USB booting support. Originally, I thought the Setup would copy the entire I386 folder out to the hard drive. Oo. I can just put the I386 folder into the destination drive and tell it not to format. Hoping it works.

No problemo. I still have to diagnose my Windows 2000. I think installing Revolution Pack 2000 decreased (explorer) system stability, but had no effect on SmoothText (which still bombs explorer). Daedalus makes things crash more, so that's not very useful. Does SmoothText depend on video drivers? Could it be the VMware Tools and it's driver?

Okay, I have a laptop without a working CD-ROM drive running XP. It needs to be re-installed, but it has no method of installing via disc. (I've tried PXE and it got overly complicated. ). The problem now is that the Windows 2000 text mode install completes with no problems. However as it enters the graphical section, it asks me to insert the Service Pack 4 disc (which was strange as USP5 was slipstreamed). Then I attempt to direct the file copy path to the USB CD-ROM drive, but it did not show up as a drive. I finished the install by telling it to skip missing files. The end result was bootable, but it was almost completely bare. Plugging in the USB CD-ROM did not find a proper driver. So maybe the USB driver should be slipstreamed? A VMware install of this CD is successful, and letting VMware connect the same USB drive to the guest OS is successful; the guest 2000 recognizes and installs it's drivers properly.

Hey WildBill! Another interesting tidbit: SmoothText will run on Windows 7 . Translucent taskbar makes it lock up.

Try a VM install of the same disc. See if it asks that question. What choices does it give you instead of Unknown?

Hey WildBill! Did you ever see the program vAnimator? It works on buttons, progressbars, and editbox borders. It's supposed to add Mac OS buttons (which pulse) but can be made to use Vista buttons . Here's a screenshot. Apparently it was made in Delphi, and development is non-existent. Can't wait for SmoothText! No rush though. EDIT: Added vAnimator link from here.

I think it just wants to know how many keys your keyboard has. I am relatively sure it lets you choose a 101-102 key keyboard. Mine never asks me that, but there should be a default or generic option. Laptop will probably be a PS/2 style.

Can't wait! The button skinning alone is awesome enough! B) I'm sure I'll figure out why my windows 2000 installs always fail to run SmoothText. Oo

Oh I can't wait to get my hands on this new version! (Could we test it as it is so far? It could be a 0.9.0a build ) However, I must put off reinstalling this computer as VM testing indicates that SmoothText will continually crash Explorer (it won't stay for more than 5 seconds). I wonder if it is some of the settings I disabled in nLite in creating the disc...

No problem. I wonder if the 98 KernelEx has more API's than KDW and the like for 2000. Oh there's some repeats. Oops I was just looking through my program files folder. EDIT: Btw, the last actual MSN version was 7.5 but it was pulled due to security. Oo

EDIT: Removed as this listing has been added to the list.

Ahh, used bugmenot the first time.

Logs from a new VM install of Windows 2000 Pro. Appears to be a conflict with Active Desktop? EDIT: Interesting tidbit: SmoothText will work on NetMeeting's shared desktop's text. Oo

My favourite one is ICONDESK from Bulent Yukruk. It allows transparent icon backgrounds. But it does not enable any form of shadow. I also prefer it over some of the other ones for it's extra features and hotkeys such as invoking the screensaver and hiding some/all windows. I know TClock3 has the ability to make background transparent AND add text shadow, I'm sure WildBill has more details on that.

File cannot be downloaded: "You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post."

What about FrontMotion Login? I've used it before and it was able to provide the whole complement of flash animations to all of the functions MSGINA handles. However it does replace the GINA with it's own variant and only supports 2000 and XP. It is a bit slower to load and I think development has ceased, but it does work. Making my own flash theme was quite difficult due to the obscure documentation.

That would explain it.