MrGRiM

Just installed a SiB update today v1.1.8, just wondering what has changed?

It sort of works, it does still bypass the theme signature but it wont let you apply custom themes in the personalization menu, it will still let you test themes using Windows Style Builder, the only current method that's working is to use patched theme files from 10240 but only themes made for TH2 10586 will work, if you try using an old theme you will end up with a flashing black and grey screen. If BM can find out why it doesn't let you apply them in the personalization menu now it would be great as I hate having to use patched theme files from 10240. I think MS might have made this intentional, not as a FU or anything, but I think they knew that people were using custom themes and Windows 8 themes and that if they didn't somehow disable the use of custom themes then there would be many people with bricked systems after the TH2 update, that's still not a great reason for it though because the changes in the msstyles that broke backwards compatibility seem so minor and I think they could have been much better implemented. Tbh the msstyles is becoming a complete joke, there are so many left over parts in it dating all the way back to Vista, there are still parts from the Vista start menu and taskbar as well as random parts from the Windows 7 start menu and many random left overs from Windows 8, there is also now 3 different right click context menus.

Have you installed any icon packs, maybe try sfc /scannow to see if you have any corrupt system files.

Why would the Atlas image have anything to do with either the Start menu or Taskbar, the Atlas image is only for DWM images, so it would only effect the window frames and caption buttons, the Taskbar in Windows 10 is completely non themeable and as for StartIsBack, it is a start menu replacement that is meant to bring back the Windows 7 style start menu and it does just that, granted the default Windows 10 start menu is effected by the Atlas image as it changes part of the frame but I have always looked at that as a negative anyway and something I have seen other members ask BM if it can be fixed. As for full screen start menu, it is exactly the same as it's always been, there was never a blur, it has always only shown the desktop wallpaper and nothing else, exactly as it should be as blur is primarily used to add focus on the active window and blur any other open windows that are shown behind it. Also related to StartIsBack and maybe this is what you were trying to refer to is it's support for the native Windows 10 blur effect that can be enabled for both the Taskbar and Start Menu and would indeed ignore any related settings for Aero Glass.

Why does this even matter to you? BM has already stated these builds are just internal test builds, he has the same watermark on his test station so why are you even mentioning it other then to irritate him?

I have no problem with the licence but I think the deactivation period should be reduced, 30 days is a long time to wait before you can generate a new key, I have about 12 keys and most of those I generated for other users on my site, once in a while I get a request to generate a new licence key because they have changed hardware, sadly now I am unable to help these members as I can not generate a new key for 30 days after deactivation of the old one, I think deactivation should be one or two days, not 30 days.

Mine seems fine dwm.exe is only using 60MB, running on a VM though so not sure if that will make a difference.

I like the new animation, the only thing I notice with it is the user picture seems a bit detached as it doesn't fade in and out with the start menu if you have disabled "Animate Windows when minimizing and maximizing" in performance options. Strange that it disables the user picture animation but not the fade in and out effects instead you have to turn off "Animate controls and elements inside windows" to disable the start menu animation completely, maybe if possible it may be a better idea to have both of these animation effects disabled using only this option.

I realise it's not something your interested in but I think allot of your customers might like to have the option, especially those who are big on skinning like the thousands of members on my site and DeviantArt, allot of those feel the same as me and stick with Windows 7 or 8 because of the more customizable features, at the moment those who want to customize the taskbar use SiB to make the taskbar transparent and then use an old program called Taskbar Color Effects http://www.thewindowsclub.com/add-color-effects-windows-7-taskbar-taskbar-color-effectsto add a single large image or a smaller tiled one, this sort of works but it's a very limited implementation as it ads the image as a background so windows are on top of it and it's a bit buggy. I know that in Windows 10 the classes and properties for the taskbar have been removed but these can easily be added back and Windows 8.1 themes still work on Windows 10 aside from missing the taskbar and some having a messed up taskitem spacing. If not a SiB option then maybe an OldNewExplorer option, although I think it's better suited to SiB as you already have several options that focus on the Taskbar.

Would have liked to see some sort of response to this request, I think this would be a great addition to SiB and this is the sole reason I am still using Windows 8.1

Read page 19 of this thread, the one before this one for your solution to your problem.

No need to apologise mate, we are all very grateful for your continued development of SiB and I am sure most of us expect a few hiccups along the way.

Ha ha that's not funny. Please try fixed version: http://www.startisback.com/StartIsBackPlusPlus_setup.exe This version works great for me now, I was going to mention about a border on the logoff flyout menu but looks like you fixed that as well I'm not able to reproduce this, opens the start menu every time for me, are you using any other programs that could be effecting it, I ask because I used Stardocks Start 10 to test out the Taskbar customisation and had it configured with SiB to see if I could use both, I had similar results with the start menu and start screen sometimes opening.

You can adjust the color, opacity as well as add blur to resolve any issues with readability. Blur does not help readability; if you dilute the color enough, blur of white is white. And white text on white background is not readable. So your solution is make it darker. That's not a solution, that's a workaround. This was a requested all dark style start menu, why are you trying to make it light? sounds like your trying to make a non existent issue instead of just using one of the light styles.

OK tested it now, not sure if it's just me but when I do a search the search panel is missing, it just shows see more results and then nothing above that, all the other styles and my custom themes still work fine. Also a question, when using 'composited' bool where is it reading the properties that were Start Menu > Menus > Basic > KeyBoard:TreeView? You can adjust the color, opacity as well as add blur to resolve any issues with readability.

Nice work mate, I take it you were not able to have this full glass because of restrictions in your present msstyles implementation, I noticed previously that some classes necessary to make it full glass will not be read from the msstyles if placed in the SiB styles folder, not sure if this is still the case or if that is something you can change.

If you want Qick Launch then just create a new Toolbar then paste "%Userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" and hit enter, then unlock your taskbar and drag it over to the left side, right click on it and uncheck "Show Text" and "Show title" and your done.

I would also love to see this in Windows 10, would love it if there was a way to make the Taskbar fully themeable again, Start 10 has made it possible to add a simple image to the taskbar but I would much prefer to have the old Taskbar, Taskband and Tray Notify images themeable again.

This is because your using a Windows 8 theme and it doesn't contain all the correct resources including the start button, you need to update your Windows 8 theme or use a Windows 10 theme. To update the theme you will need to add the TaskbarPearl Class and then export the start button images from a fresh windows 10 theme, then you will need to copy the properties and add the images to the Windows 8 theme, after that your still going to have allot of missing properties and classes as well as outdated extra ones that should be removed so probably best to just wait for a complete windows 10 theme or ask the author to update it.

So you mean the menu bar, if you want to remove the menu bar click on Organize in the command bar, then uncheck menu bar in the Layout options. Alternatively Uncheck always show menus in the folder options.

It's not meant to hide the command bar, it's meant to hide the ribbon and use the command bar, there are custom themes that will do this though, you can also do this yourself by editing the shellstyle.dll UI file. Here is one I grabbed from another theme, rename your shell folder and place this one in there. You may have to sign out to take effect. Shell.zip

Thanks BM, working perfectly now with Black Glass Enhanced

This only happens if you chose the silver cream style, the shell32.dll UI files 23 and 24 need to be updated for windows 10, you can edit the OldNewExplorer32.dll and OldNewExplorer64.dll using a resource hacker like Restorator and either delete the 23 and 24 files in the STYLE_CREAM folder or update them with these UI files attached. Not sure if Tihiy can create a solution for this unless he makes a version for Windows 10 only. Note: These UI files are only if you are using Windows 10 and want to use the Silver Cream style, default and Flat White do not have any problems. Always a good idea to read the thread if your having problems, chances are it's already been mentioned

I agree, this is definitely not a reason to hold off and I don't think BM would anyway, I just don't want to see users have to give up on choice if they don't have to.

Unfortunately, I do not use this software and I don't know the technique which it uses. If it uses standard layered windows to get the full transparency then it is not possible to do anything about this. Such bug randomly appears even with native Aero Glass in Win7. If it uses another technique then I don't know, as I said, I don't use it. I personally don't use this program but I know there are allot of people that do, I don't know how it works, it just makes the whole window glassy and has worked perfectly until your last 2 releases, I know you may not use it and maybe you don't care but I thought the whole idea of you bringing back Aero Glass was to give users the choice instead of MS saying stuff you, you will have it like we want it. On you builds prior to 120 it looked like this. and since then it now looks like this It's not a mater of you using it, it's a matter of what you have done since that build that would change the rendered glass zones behind the windows, I am sure you can fix it because it was never broken until now. If you want to test the program then grab it from here http://curiouso9.deviantart.com/art/Black-Glass-Enhanced-v0-5-156752713 ignore the theme, that is one of my old Windows 7 themes, if you want a dark theme to test it on then grab my latest theme http://www.mediafire.com/download/m8tn7e9hn9fn10j/Windows_Black_Edition_Complete_Colection.7z As I said, I don't use it but I don't believe in taking away choice, so now the choice is yours.