NoelC

Great! This version now accesses the specified theme atlas title glow backing just fine, with both "Use atlas image" and "Use atlas image and theme opacity" settings. With the "Use atlas image" setting I prefer, I now see just the right amount of shading behind the title text on both ribbon-enabled windows and non-ribbon enabled windows no matter what I set the theme opacity to. Very nice! Operationally, I now see the whole desktop blank briefly when I make changes with the Aero Glass GUI to the theme atlas or the Caption glow effect mode setting in the latest Aero Glass GUI. I don't think it was doing that before. Is that intentional, so that the updated settings are seen by Explorer on all windows? I am using an actual theme, Sagorpirbd's "Aero7", along with my own theme atlas replacement for the title bars and borders. All my controls (buttons and thumbs) inside both 32 and 64 bit applications seem to have the proper skeuomorphism, so I guess all is well with UXTSB32/64 when not making changes with the Aero Glass GUI. It all seems to hang together nicely. Thank you, Big Muscle. -Noel

I've wondered that myself. Could it be that Microsoft is paying them handsomely, yet somehow, for some reason they've passed Woody over - perhaps because he has too much integrity? Woody is certainly a good guy. I noticed that he's now asking for donations from people who visit askwoody.com. -Noel

Isn't it clear they have a particular goal (to ELIMINATE the "desktop" metaphor) and the ONLY time they pull back from single-mindedly pursuing it is when they've pushed too hard too fast and have to backpedal? They don't ever want us to have a good Start Menu (from them) ever again! And they WILL move on from the desktop! If they SAY they put a Start Menu back, but in fact did something that's worse than ever, then people will say, "well, Microsoft needs to get rid of the Start Menu and do something better". Hell, if their motives were genuine they *could* have just resurrected the stock Start Menu from Win 7 or pre-release Win 8. But no, they didn't do that. The number of people who don't yet see their game is staggering. That they continue to single-mindedly pursue some "future vision" that's not better than what we already have may be even more staggering. Single-mindedly. Like not being able to imagine a mobile device interface that's different from what's needed on a serious computer. -Noel

Likewise here. What is the relationship between this forum and Microsoft, anyway? -Noel

WinAero Tweaker claims to be able to alter the behavior of the lock screen. Not sure whether it does exactly what you want. -Noel

An option that even Woody doesn't embrace is to not install updates at all. Now, if Microsoft's patches are keeping you from running all kinds of latent malware because you engage in risky computing behavior, well, that's probably not good advice. But for those trying to get some useful work out of our older systems, tell me again why we should want changes from the very same programmers who brought us a new operating system we don't want? If you don't constantly install updates, you can achieve things like focusing on work all day, months-long uptime, no unexpected loss of functionality or stability... The original architects didn't design NT to be updated every few minutes. They designed it to be a stable OS that can be the cornerstone of getting things done. -Noel

So THAT's how the pro football players get concussions. I have heard this is a big problem. Never having touched or noticed a Microsoft Surface tablet myself, I can't begin to imagine that if you were to combine the drop in quality in Win 10 with whatever Microsoft would think is sufficient hardware quality that it would work very well. In all my years as a software engineer, I always found that most folks who'd like to think they're software engineers are really no more than undisciplined application programmers at heart. Hardware engineers have traditionally been a breed apart simply because they take the discipline of engineering much more seriously (not that there is a reason software engineers can't - I do). I only mention this because thinking that a software company could be changed into a hardware company would involve a complete management change and a cultural shift that I doubt seriously anyone could pull off in less than, say, a decade or two. -Noel

I've finially managed to achieve a reasonably polished, usable combo of Aero Glass, custom theme, theme atlas, and colors with Win 10 build 14393. Aero Glass for Win8.1+ version 1.5.1.724 x64 brings translucency to title bars and borders. Sagorpirbd's Aero7 theme restores a more usable skeuomorphic feel to buttons and controls. Theme and ribbon-enabled window title coloration facilitated by Big Muscle's UxThemeSignatureBypass DLLs. Big Muscle's latest Aero Glass GUI application to facilitate setting accent color, transparency, etc. My own Theme Atlas polishes the title bar and borders (Aero7's is not bad but looks a bit dated). Classic Shell provides a decent hierarchical start menu and facilitates Taskbar et. al. translucency, and reduces vertical spacing in File Explorer Navigation pane. T800 Productions' Folder Options X improves usability and reduces vertical spacing in File Explorer files pane. Various other tweakers such as Vista Shortcut Manager, Winaero Tweaker, etc. to fine tune of various small things. -Noel

Just so we're clear on what I'm describing... What I see with Win 8.1, AG 1.5 and UxThemeSignatureBypass DLL What I see with Win 10 AG 1.6 alone (no UXThemeSignatureBypass) What I see with Win 10 AG 1.6 and UxThemeSignatureBypass DLL and "Use Atlas Image" UI setting What I see with Win 10 AG 1.6 and UxThemeSignatureBypass DLL and "Use Atlas Image and theme opacity" UI setting The last one is an okay workaround, but it does leave the normal windows with almost too little title backing. For the time being I've increased the opacity in my own copy of my Rounded Corners theme atlas, but I'd really rather just use the "Use Atlas Image" setting. -Noel

Very reasonable, though I've run Win 8.1 for years with AppInit_DLLs injection of both of those libraries without any problems whatsoever. I only mention that to show that the AppInit_DLLs approach can yield a working solution. Since I'm both not choosing to downgrade my main system to Win 10, and even in my Win 10 test VM I don't use Apps in general, these are really non-issues for me. And with the latest Windows and choice of the dark UI, Windows itself puts white text on current ribbon-enabled windows, so I don't miss the title coloring and glow for ribbon-enabled windows much, though when it's there (as on my Win 8.1 setup) it DOES help readability a tiny bit. The UxThemeSignatureBypass DLLs should in theory find the glow okay to back the titles if one replaces the theme resources in a custom full theme with the same graphic that's used for the theme atlas. I still need to experiment to see if Aero7 can be made to work seamlessly in Win 10. If so, that would make it possible to make the Win 10 desktop very nearly as usable as my Win 8.1 desktop - though Microsoft's changes to make the Taskbar more plain still gives the older systems a small advantage. -Noel

Because I was asked by xpclient whether I had done any detailed benchmarks with and without Aero Glass, I decided to do some objective comparative testing. I had done such tests before, but not with the most recent Aero Glass release. Test system: Windows 8.1 Pro/MCE. Dell Precision T5500 workstation with dual 6 core Xeon 3.47 GHz, 48 GB ECC RAM, ATI Radeon HD 7850. The 6 x 8 GB RAM DIMMs are organized for optimal multichannel performance with this motherboard. 3 monitors, with the testing involving the displays being done by the test software primarily on the central 2650 x 1600 pixel Dell U3014. Test setup: Tests done to compare these three configurations: Without Aero Glass for Win 8+ running and with default theme (i.e., flat, lifeless) With Aero Glass version 1.4.5.520 (most stable for me) and Aero7 theme With Aero Glass version 1.4.6.610 (slightly buggy for me) and Aero7 theme. Test software: Passmark PerformanceTest version 8. All runs repeated twice with the better result shown. Only the Clock32.exe application was running; the system was quiet beyond what I normally run in the background (generally fairly little). I specifically avoided doing any disk benchmarks as that puts a strain on my SSDs. I made an effort to test consistently, though I did not go to special lengths to disable normally scheduled tasks, etc. Summary and Conclusions: There is always some variance from run to run because my CPUs automatically throttle up to "Turbo" speed (i.e., momentarily overclocking) per temperature measurements. Also I use NUMA (Non Uniform Memory Addressing), which means that some memory locations are accessed more efficiently by each CPU package than others. The system tries to allocate memory close to the CPU package that is running the code requesting the RAM, but it doesn't always create ideal alignment. Overall the system doesn't feel like it runs any differently whatsoever with Aero Glass on vs. off. It always gives essentially instantaneous desktop responsiveness. This is backed up by the results - noting that there is almost no difference in the overall performance numbers. Result differences fall within typical, expected variances I normally see between benchmark runs. However, there were several that might indicate that there is a slight negative impact by Aero Glass - 3D Graphics entries "DirectX 10" and "Direct Compute" were a few percent higher without Aero Glass running. If you game with your computer this could matter. On a system like mine, which is a desktop workhorse and isn't used for gaming, the more important comparison is with the 2D benchmark results, which are virtually no different across all tests. There was also an interesting jump in Memory "Database Operations" performance with the run where I tested Aero Glass 1.4.6.610, but I can't see how having Aero Glass in the system can really improve memory performance. I believe it was just a lucky NUMA alignment of the memory locations used by the benchmark software for that run. A second run with the same configuration (not shown here) delivered high 60s results close to the results from the other two configurations. It's reasonable to ignore variations of up to about 5% from run to run. Detailed Results: -Noel

Big Muscle, regarding "still not clear at the top" and other "product is not complete" type comments we're seeing from time to time... Here's what I know of that's still not working: You are providing no Win 10 build 14393-compatible ModernFrame.dll (except the debug version you once made available), though I did verify that the current 1.5.1 installer doesn't alter the AppInit_DLLs registry value. The UxThemeSignatureBypass64/32.dll doesn't shade the title background properly on ribbon-enabled windows (possibly the .layout file is not being read?) -Noel

Metaphor mix alert! Metaphor mix alert! Metaphor mix alert! For what it's worth, my actual wife of 37 years has white hair and I wouldn't trade her for the world. Not even the whole solar system. -Noel

True. It could still be work in progress... See also: -Noel

In theory, maybe, that sounds good. But that theory has not been matched by reality. Bigger computers are still more powerful computers. More reliable computers. Better computers. While the small ones are more problem prone to say the least. Things like power / heat dissipation, sheer size of components (however much RAM or flash you can cram in a little box, you can cram more in a big box), manufacturing tolerances, problems with materials, etc. make it so. And desktops don't tend to catch fire. And... How much compute power is "enough"? Asked another way, could more be better? Sure, there may be some jobs where just a modest amount (of course equivalent to yesteryear's top-end power) is "enough". But there are always jobs that could be done even better with more. In my experience, most of them. I have quite a big computer. With it I have done things many others haven't been able to do. I see more code at once and can engineer more complex algorithms. I get builds done quicker. I do more things simultaneously. I simply crunch through stuff that others struggle with. And yet I have always craved even more compute power, because there is always something more I could imagine doing if only the system were quicker or could store more data... Regarding taking your data with you: You seem to be making a good case for cloud computing, BUT... It can also be accomplished by creating private network tunnels through the cloud to YOUR OWN DATA. Some of us have been doing that for years already. When I travel I remote into my main desktop system and have all my data AND compute power available to me WITHOUT exposing it to those who would invade my privacy and mine it for their own profit. This cloud BS is no more than an attempt to wrest control of your data away from you so as to profit from your work. It's easy to see through that ruse. No, the strong hype that "mobile is it and desktop computing is out" doesn't actually hold water. In the information age there are reasons people have to "go to" work in offices, cubicles, etc., and no Surface Pro or iPhone is going to change that. People need to let go of the flawed idea that their most idle thoughts have value and that talking to something they hold in their hand is good for anything other than distracting them from the guilt of not doing enough real work. -Noel

That's what they want us all to think but not everyone - not even all the young folks - are that naïve. Style and fashion simply do not trump reality! I'm as flexible as anyone. I've been an early adopter all my life, and I have a tablet and various other handheld tech too. But I'm here to tell you that I do my real work on my desktop system because it's impossible to get serious, difficult work done at the limits of one's abilities with anything less than a real computer. No hipster youngling is going to make that go away just by proclaiming that desktop computers aren't cool. Someone has to do the difficult work. Not a person alive can make a valid argument that what can be done on a powerful tablet can't be done better on an even more powerful, big screen, multimonitor desktop. Engineering is essentially stagnating because people want to play with handheld toys. That won't keep. We ain't gonna get to a Star Trek future by talking Cortana into bringing up web searches. SOMEONE has to actually make the next tech. SOMEONE has to work at or near the limits of human abilities to make new things that are better than ever before. That's worlds away from distracted driving and tapping out a few things on a tablet at Panera Bread. -Noel

>maybe changes may come around in Windows 10 that may draw me to the OS. Could that possibly happen? It's a Really Good question. But, IMO, the answer is no. Not for technical reasons, though. I've been all the way down the road with Win 10, and I can tell you it can be turned into a system that's not half bad - one that could possibly even be loved. But... Microsoft has made it their mission in life to keep us from keeping (and loving) that tweaked, customized system in working order for very long. Something breaks every darned time an update comes in. And THAT makes it a non-starter. Will Microsoft see the error in their ways and drop back to a model where they put out a Good Operating System every 3 years or so, and re-embrace serious, business computing - which is what made them great? I honestly don't see how they could do that. They now have a company full of hipsters and junior programmers who don't know their assembler from a hole in the ground. Is there a flavor of Win 10 that could become the system of choice after which one throttles back Windows Updates - kind of like what we're doing now with Win 8? Maybe. But I'm not sure there's anything at all better about it technically that would make doing so something reasonable. Better to just keep the older software running in good working order. -Noel

Remembered something today that Windows 8.1's File Explorer does better than Win 7's. Let's say you want to disable inheritance of file permissions so as to change a particular permission value of a file (I sometimes do this, for example, to disable a .exe from being able to run). In Win 8 there's a button for that... ...but not in Win 7... Sure, there IS a way to accomplish the task, through the Change Permissions button, but it's indirect and doesn't make it easy to duplicate the effective permissions that the file already has. -Noel

I recently got an update to Skype, version 7.28.80.101. If you have had a recent update you may have noticed a Skype update has brought in a new DCOM process that didn't exist before: SkypeBrowserHost.exe According to Microsoft, in this thread, this component is described by a Skype forum admin as: Not everyone is getting this "experiment" apparently. Some with 7.28.80.101 still have only Skype.exe running. Lucky them. What I have found prevents SkypeBrowserHost.exe from running is to simply rescind execute permissions for all users/groups from SkypeBrowserHost.exe. Blocking SkypeBrowserHost.exe from running will flood your System Event Log with error 10000 messages. Literally several per second! My entire System event log has been filled, causing all the history of events on my machine (which had gone back all the way to 2013 when I installed it) to be lost. Thanks Microsoft, for nothing. However, there appears to be a workaround for the event 10000 flood as well. Removal of this Wow6432Node class ID key gets rid of the repeating event 10000 messages. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{3FCB7074-EC9E-4AAF-9BE3-C0E356942366}] To reverse the above deletion, add this: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{3FCB7074-EC9E-4AAF-9BE3-C0E356942366}] @="BrowserControl Class" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{3FCB7074-EC9E-4AAF-9BE3-C0E356942366}\LocalServer32] @="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Skype\\Browser\\SkypeBrowserHost.exe\"" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{3FCB7074-EC9E-4AAF-9BE3-C0E356942366}\TypeLib] @="{6F1F1B02-1FB0-428A-8525-9BD9E420A0D8}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{3FCB7074-EC9E-4AAF-9BE3-C0E356942366}\Version] @="1.0" Microsoft, I care deeply about what's running and why on my systems. I don't appreciate your experimenting on me without my permission. Perhaps you would like me to do the same to you one day? It's possible that under some conditions it will be necessary for SkypeBrowserHost to run. I don't find it necessary for it to automatically log in, and in fact it sounds like disabling it turns off parts I'd really rather not have running. But bear in mind that you may have to undo these steps if you find Skype stops doing some things you want it to do. Do these things at your own risk, and only if you're confident you can undo them! -Noel

Hi BigMuscle, I ran your installer on my Win 10 VM and saw that it had changed my HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows : AppInit_DLLs value from what I had set (C:\AeroGlass\ModernFrame-x64-Debug.dll) to C:\AEROGL~1\ModernFrame.dll, but no ModernFrame.dll was put into the C:\AeroGlass folder. I ran the installer to specifically check to see if you have included a Release build of ModernFrame.dll in with the installer package, as you did once before, but apparently not. Did you forget to include a Release build of ModernFrame.dll in the installer build, or is it just not ready yet? -Noel

Wow, it's been a while since I did that testing... For what it's worth I waited until 8.1 was out before upgrading from 7; I did not find much in the context of what I needed that was better in 8.0 than 7. Back then I was actively posting on SSD forums trying to figure out the best setup, and I would remember saying Win 8.0 was faster if it actually was. Yes, I'm remembering more now... Win 8.0's Explorer was incrementally slower than that of Win 7, though I don't remember by how much - but it was not as slow as 8.1 became. That being said, from my ongoing testing it appears Win 8.1, with Windows Updates, picked up a little performance over time as compared to its first releases (for me it enumerates over 20K files/second now), so I can't honestly say how today's Win 8.1 compares to any level of 8.0. It's possible that 8.0 with all the available patches is also now faster than the originally released 8.0. Probably some detailed testing is needed. Unfortunately I no longer have any 8.0 systems here. For what it's worth, I stopped updating Win 8.1 as of July, though I'm still not sure whether I'll hold to this course. I may apply security updates, though it's entirely possible Microsoft could destroy the utility of an older OS through security updates. For now my system is perfectly stable (42 days uptime at the moment) and it performs well, so it's hard to want to allow Microsoft to change it. -Noel

Not sure, but probably so if you recognize it. Google turned it up online. -Noel

>Or you can join the unpaid beta team on 1607. That would make insiders the what, unit testers and alpha testers? The shoe seems to fit. Everyone at Microsoft seems to have forgotten it's an operating system, not an application. An operating system needs to be the cornerstone, the foundation, the facilitator. The focus CANNOT be on Windows itself. It has to be on what the users want to DO with Windows. -Noel

Shields still holding! -Noel

Cool. Let me know if you'd like to look over my Sphinx configuration for Win 10 that allows no nonsense (i.e., no Apps, no telemetry, etc.). It could serve as an alternate starting point for developing your personalized configuration vs. what the Sphinx developers provide. -Noel