Aethelflaed

Hear hear! Well said, Blonk.

Sorry, but this is not really 'commercial software'. You will have to be patient.

Come on, it's not that bad. I imagine that this project is something that Big Muscle works on in his spare time. Those few euros/dollars/pounds etc that we donate on his website are not going to pay the bills.

Well, you've got a few which appear to relate to the ability to pin items to the taskbar ('remove_taskbar_pinned_programs', 'Remove_pin-to-start-context_menu', etc.), so you might want to start there.

Normally, an application that puts an icon on the desktop should also add an icon to the start menu (unless you explicitly chose not to have it do that in one of the install dialogues). I do have some programmes which do not add any icons at all (software like O&O Shutup, which doesn't come with an installer). In such cases I right-click-drag the icon into the 'All programs' list, which gives you the option of adding a link to the programme in question. Doing this has never given me any problems. Pin to Start Menu will add a link to the left pane of the menu, which is mostly populated by your 'most frequently used apps'. Most of those links will be removed if you use one of those privacy cleaning programmes, like BleachBit or CCleaner. Perhaps this somehow contributes to your problem. In any case, cleaning the registry is something you do not, normally, need to do. CCleaner and the like are blunt tools which will also remove entries that Windows automatically regenerates afterwards. I've never actually seen running such softwares improve the performance of my PC. If the registry genuinely needs fixing, therefore, I'd first consider using Microsoft's own repair options such as a reinstall of the operating system.

Yes, I'm afraid you cannot really do anything about it. That's how my Firefox looks now, too. I am also having text rendering issues with Aero Glass enabled; not sure how to fix those - guess I should create a new thread.

I use the one by Xemnes, on page 37 of this thread.

That code pops up if you are using one of the beta versions, or have not activated your copy (which you can only do if you donated on Big Muscle's website).

Hey, relax. That DLL tool was an extra bit of kit that Big Muscle coded. This thread is about Aero Glass.

Erm, well, because it enables glass and allows me to skin the window frame and titlebar - which is exactly what the glass8 website tells you this software does?

Many thanks! It works perfectly.

If you are genuinely interested in knowing your IQ, take a validated test like the WAIS-IV with a trained professional. Doing the test takes several hours, involves assessments of both your verbal and perceptual abilities, and produces a nuanced overview of your cognitive performance. The Mensa test is fairly accurate as long as there are no substantial discrepancies between (what used to be known as) your verbal and performance IQs. If such discrepancies do exist, the test no longer yields reliable results as it primarily focuses on your performance IQ.

I find that, in Windows 10, Windowblinds themes do not always give consistent effects - the last time I used it, there was much greater difference between the titlebars of various kinds of Windows applications than was the case if I used Glass8. That said, Stardock's proprietary engine does work on all the versions of Windows 10 released thus far, likely thanks to the fact that they are less dependent on Microsoft code than Glass8. And there's nothing mysterious about wba themes. They're just zip files that could be 'dismantled' with any old archiving application.

You are probably running the experimental (i.e., beta) build for the Fall Creators' Update. AFAIK it always has the watermark.

Well, you don't - those files are used by Glass8 itself. I personally use the GUI to set Glass8 to use the right files. As I do not currently have Glass8 installed (waiting for Bigmuscle to finish the Fall Creators' Update version) I am not sure if the GUI works at the moment.

I'll see what happens if I modify the glyphs in the msstyle theme that I'm using, to see if those are imported by Aeroglass. I've found out what caused the blurriness in the 200% pic, by the way. I had attempted to resize the titlebar using the Winaero Tweaker. Somehow, this doesn't work at 4K/200%, but it does cause the textures on the buttons to distort.

Cool, thanks!

Ah, thanks! I thought those buttons were imported from the file used to paint the window frame. I know how to edit msstyle themes, so I'll give that a go. EDIT - it does render them, though, doesn't it? The buttons displayed are the ones in the theme atlas. Or is Aero Glass somehow telling the Windows rendering engine to use those buttons, without doing the rendering itself?

When I rescale the Windows interface, the way in which the title bar is painted appears to change beyond simply resampling its various elements. The minimize/resize/close buttons stretch further down, and the glyphs inside those buttons do not appear to resize at all. I have added two images to illustrate what I mean. The first image is of a 32-bit application which has not been rescaled; the second one is of that same application, yet scaled to 200% of its original size. Would it be possible to counteract or remedy this? I am using Aero Glass on Windows 10 Creators' Update.

I tried that actually - using Photoshop, I created a new PNG image that was twice the size of the original Windows Aero orb. Startisback wouldn't accept it. I think there is a limit to the image sizes it will accept. EDIT: problem solved. It appears I was a bit overambitious last time. Resizing to 150% of the original size was enough. I've attached the file in case anyone needs it.

I recently started running my desktop at 4K, scaling the interface to 250% to accommodate for the reduction in size of many desktop elements. The Startisback task bar and task menu scale just fine, with one exception: the Start Button, which is stuck at a relatively small size. I have added a screenshot to illustrate this. Would it be possible to add an option to increase the Start Button's size, too? Many thanks in advance!

It works through the donation system. It's some time ago I did it, though.

So what is it we're looking at? A theme that uses transparency? New transparency features built into Windows?

Ah, but how does suggesting that people stick with the current stable release make someone 'funny'? I can well imagine some of us might need specific functionality (it's why I'm on the Insiders programme on my phone, in fact), but unless that should be the case there is no real reason to upgrade. Not as long as older releases remain secure, that is.

Unless you're a software developer who needs to ensure the future compatibility of their programme(s), there's surely there's no need to install 16362.1000 yet?