NoelC

All the symbols finally just loaded automatically for me. Who knows what Microsoft is doing. Here's an updated "faux rounded corner theme atlas" for beta testers of Aero Glass with Win 10 build 9860: http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/FauxBordersRoundedCorners.png -Noel

I've extracted the stock theme atlas from aero.msstyles and have begun adjustments to resurrect my faux borders look. Looks like only the resources along the left edge have been moved a little bit. I'm still trying to find where the coloration for the title bar has gone. Here's the out-of-box Win 10 Build 9860 theme atlas: http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/themeatlas_9860.png -Noel

Odd... Only the dwmcore.pdb symbols automatically loaded successfully here. uDWM.pdb fails. Something may be wrong with Microsoft's servers at the moment, though a 1/3 success sure seems odd. For what it's worth, Aero Glass only partially works after that. Theme atlas resources are off a bit as compared to the prior version. -Noel

Also, if anyone has a solution or another way to help, I'd love to hear it. And, what benefits would donating include? Anything for me necessarily? I ask for me cause I'm short on funds but would be glad to donate, especially if it would solve my issue, but I don't know if it would. You've been quoting the answer to your question all along. Perhaps the best thing might be to just remove the files and AeroHost entry in the Task Scheduler and be done with it. -Noel

LOL, I hope you don't think I was asking you to do that. Just reporting the facts as a good beta tester. -Noel

The Notifications panel opens behind the Taskbar if you normally auto-hide it. Most events in the event log are undocumented. Symbols are still not available on the online symbol server. The servicing database is still corrupted and SFC and DISM don't correct it. I'm left with the feeling, "this is all they could do in 3 weeks?" Is there only one guy working on it? -Noel

The second build of Windows 10 is out - 9860. More window dressing changes - generally for the worse. The animations are annoying at best. The new Notifications window ends up behind an auto-hidden Taskbar. More reimplementation of the control panel in Metro/Modern. To this day, if you search on any given event message in the event log, you get: We're sorry There is no additional information about this issue in the Error and Event Log Messages or Knowledge Base databases at this time. You can use the links in the Support area to determine whether any additional information might be available elsewhere. There is NO new substance that I can find. As an engineer myself, my own products have improved more in the past 3 weeks than Windows has, and Microsoft has HOW MANY tens of thousands of programmers? What we see again and again coming from Microsoft says only one thing: It TRULY must be as bad as - or even worse than - we all fear there. -Noel

I imported the [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics] registry section from an export from a Windows 7 system where they had been made smaller with the UI. I have a file that will set those metrics as part of some extras I provide with one of my books: http://www.ProDigitalSoftware.com/files/W8ToWork/CompanionTools.zip Double click the file "SetWindowMetrics.reg" from that archive (after examining it carefully of course). -Noel

To get it, in PC Settings, choose Update and Recovery, then Preview Builds. Initial observations: It's an over 2.5 GB download, and it takes quite a while to set itself up even on a powerful system with SSD storage. Probably the kind of thing to set off before you go to bed. If you've done registry changes or installed 3rd party tweaks, some of them will be undone. I get the impression quite a bit of the registry - but not all - has been refreshed. Symbols are not available online yet, as of this writing. At first blush I see a new window animation when opening and closing windows where they start too big and shrink, then when closed they shrink in place to quite small before disappearing. I wouldn't have thought Microsoft could make the desktop appearance more irritating / disruptive, but I've gotta say, I don't like this. A small Windows Update is already pending for it, KB3008956, and it requires a reboot after the install. There's a new notification icon in next to the system tray that can't be hidden. -Noel

Hey BigMuscle, new Windows 10 TP build 9860 doesn't appear to have symbols online yet as of tonight, thus it fails to load symbols for a while then reports DWM incompatibility error. Not sure if/whether it will affect Aero Glass, but I believe I see an update to the Window closing/opening animation. -Noel

Are you saying you've read through these instructions thoroughly and still can't understand what to do next? http://www.glass8.eu/guide.html Do you have a donation.key? If so, the symbols Aero Glass needs to keep up to date with the latest patches from Microsoft will be downloaded automatically from Microsoft. -Noel

Rudsec, for slightly rounded corners try one of theme resource files with Aero Glass for Win 8.1: http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/themeatlas.png (with light caption glow for black font) http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/temp/themeatlas.png (with dark caption glow for light font) -Noel

Like Andre, Windows Update worked perfectly for me here on Windows 8.1 Pro x64. However, I didn't seek this particular update out and I see I don't have KB2993928 installed as part of the normal Windows Update process, nor are any pending. Is this an update that only shows up if you have installed something in particular on your system? -Noel

Yes, I agree, the edges looked a bit fuzzy. There's some kind of scaling or sub-pixel shift happening between the theme atlas drop shadow resources and the screen, so it may not be possible to achieve perfection this way. I tidied things up a bit and was able to tighten up the edges a bit as well as ensure the rounded corners are pixel-perfect. Theme atlas resource files, for use with the CustomThemeAtlas registry setting of Aero Glass for Win10 (or whatever it gets called when it's released)... With dark caption glow for light text: http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/themeatlas.png With light caption glow for dark text: http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/themeatlas_white_glow.png -Noel

I'm sorry to say I don't know of a way yet, without Big Muscle's Aero Glass software to facilitate the replacement. When he releases it, the data is here for all to use. -Noel

All very nice, but most are altogether way too square-cornered (I like those subtle curved corners in Licorice - nice). I really like very slightly rounded corners myself, though I don't mind sharp corners on the buttons. That's doable by adjusting the drop shadow resources to add a small faux border. Edit: Resources updated - see my post below. -Noel

Just another data point: Items in my Startup folder all start for me okay on Win 10. I use only Big Muscle's Aero Glass software and a themeatlas.png I created. -Noel

I realized it's a poor implementation after about a day and just switched to Classic Shell, which is better than the Win 10 effort, and actually better than any implementation of a Start Menu in any version of Windows. Best of all, it maintains the continuity of experience I've had with it since wayyyy back when. I've used it on every system since Vista since it really is better. It's a real shame that Microsoft doesn't have the talent to make something like a Start Menu that's even as good as something they already did. You have to think that either they're being directed to make it crappy, or they're incapable of making it anything but. I'm not sure what's worse. -Noel

One word: Indexing. Three words: Disable that crap! Indexing is a poor implementation of a bad idea. That's an expert opinion from someone doing this stuff most likely since before the birth of the id*** who decided indexing the content on a hard disk then storing the result on that same hard disk is a reasonable idea. Common sense isn't. Especially at Microsoft. -Noel

Big Muscle's Aero Glass is coming (a prototype build is already working darned near perfectly), and with a theme atlas replacement that it can facilitate, it can bring a much nicer look and feel to the Win 10 desktop. -Noel

What do you mean by that? I realize we may have a language barrier; I don't understand what you wrote. Big Muscle's product requires a certain amount of savvy when it comes to setting up your computer and running it well. Are you saying you've gotten a donation.key but it's not working? Or that you've installed some 3rd party "nag remover" that's de-stabilized your setup? In any case, there's a clear path to success... You just have to follow it, and you've already got all the information you need. Do you need it spelled out plainly? Remove any 3rd party hacker BS that purports to "remove the nag". If you want to use Aero Glass without donating, load your own symbols, minimize DWM after logon, acknowledge the pop-ups, and live with the desktop watermark. You're responsible for any instability if you've chosen to run hacker BS and you shouldn't complain publicly, since it just makes you look a little silly. If Aero Glass is not recognizing your donation.key file, chances are you've either put it in the wrong place (it needs a short, simple root path like C:\AeroGlass; I used C:\BIN), or maybe you generated a file without accurately entering your Machine ID. What folder have you installed Aero Glass into? The debug.log file will tell you what you need to know about why it's not working. Do you see something like this?[2014-10-18 09:13:54][0x664:0x668] Installing DWM hook... [2014-10-18 09:13:54][0x664:0x668] User: SYSTEM [2014-10-18 09:13:55][0x664:0x668] Module: C:\BIN\dwmglass.dll [2014-10-18 09:13:55][0x3C8:0x7A8] Donation key loaded [2014-10-18 09:13:55][0x3C8:0x7A8] Machine ID: CG6OCCLNFHOH5LOSAU3ILTAPGVTLO335QDLJRAKI4LOGYZUQ The nuclear option: If all of this seems too complicated maybe the product is just not for you. Though it's not too terribly complex in the grand scheme, it is not a trivial "turnkey" product, a viable option is to just stop using it and take whatever Microsoft gives you on your desktop. -Noel

Good pun. In all seriousness, it's a case where "different" is not better, but there are people inside Microsoft who think style is everything, even if it eschews function. The good news is that with a bit of craftiness and Big Muscle's software it's possible to turn the drop shadow graphic resources into faux borders that actually work almost as well as the real thing. I've reduced those as compared to the image I posted a few days ago, so now they're nice and thin, and lo and behold the whole Win 10 system instantly just feels better to use. It's a bit like waking up from a bad dream. http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10Desktop.png Now I even get borders on Metro windows (not that I've found much use for Metro apps yet). Unfortunately, Microsoft is in the habit lately of changing bad dreams into nightmares. I encourage everyone to go onto Microsoft's "Feedback" app (poorly-coded thing that it is) and tell them that borderless windows don't light everyone's fire, and that they should be providing several different themes, and even the ability for anyone to CREATE their own theme, without hacking. -Noel

Not here it doesn't. It's working as solidly as ever for me with the latest updates. I've been running them for 2 full days now. -Noel

Two words: Classic Shell. Ditch the cheesy Microsoft Start menu. Microsoft no longer knows how to do things very well (though to be fair, Classic Shell is better than any version of Microsoft's Start menu).. I just hope they don't delete so much functionality before they're done that we can't turn Win 8.2 10 into something worth having. -Noel

As with any UI change, it should have been made configurable. I cannot find any such configuration item. There's plenty of empty space in the Wheel tab of the Mouse Properties panel. And there's less than nothing in the Big Font Dumbed Down PC Settings app. Having used WizMouse for a long time (and it still adds advantages to Win 10), I'm used to having to point the mouse at things to get them to accept scroll events. But I do see the advantage in doing what you've done. Microsoft would be happy that they've made it harder for you to ignore advertisers I think. -Noel