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Start Is Back - 2.1 release


Tihiy

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Hello, sorry for spam, this is not directly StartIsBack related, but someone could be interested in it.

Would somebody be interested in the development of the small utility which returns transparent titlebars in Win8? This is not regular Aero Glass but the utility (currently slow and buggy) which replaces windows titlebars with transparent images.

Interesting, but IMHO transparent borders without Aero Blur are not as good as solid. What I truly want added to Windows 8 is Flip3D as in Windows 7.

Yeah, blurring is my plan. But, starting from Vista (and Win7/8) it is not so easy to do. Technique which did work on XP simply does not work with DWM enabled. Although DWM renders windows into off-screen buffer, it is not possible to get pixels which are hidden under certain window - or better, it is possible to iterate over all windows in needed z-order, render them into my buffer and composite whole desktop (then get rectangle under window border and do a blur on it) on my own. It is very fast when you have two or three windows on your desktop. But performance will degrade with the amount of opened windows. Maybe there is another way but I have not found a solution yet...

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Sorry, but for me new inst. programs are NOT highlighted anymore.

Programs are considered new for 1 day and until you launch them. Reinstalling programs may not mark them as new if they were launched before. Note that refreshing algorithm still needs to be improved so sometimes programs won't be highlighted right after installation. Edited by Tihiy
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Hello, sorry for spam, this is not directly StartIsBack related, but someone could be interested in it.

Would somebody be interested in the development of the small utility which returns transparent titlebars in Win8? This is not regular Aero Glass but the utility (currently slow and buggy) which replaces windows titlebars with transparent images.

Interesting, but IMHO transparent borders without Aero Blur are not as good as solid. What I truly want added to Windows 8 is Flip3D as in Windows 7.

Yeah, blurring is my plan. But, starting from Vista (and Win7/8) it is not so easy to do. Technique which did work on XP simply does not work with DWM enabled. Although DWM renders windows into off-screen buffer, it is not possible to get pixels which are hidden under certain window - or better, it is possible to iterate over all windows in needed z-order, render them into my buffer and composite whole desktop (then get rectangle under window border and do a blur on it) on my own. It is very fast when you have two or three windows on your desktop. But performance will degrade with the amount of opened windows. Maybe there is another way but I have not found a solution yet...

I know that windows 8 DWM is in fact Aero but without transparency, and thanks for the clarifications. Indeed it's a hefty task to apply transparency over DWM that just thwarts the Aero blur feature. I wish you good luck with the project. Perhaps it'll be easier going this route: http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-may-get-aero-glass-back-via-modder.

I just find the lack of Flip3D greater annoyance than the lack of transparency, this was my point. Rebuilding missing Flip3D feature from scratch is quite a task too, but it's worth the effort..

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I'm experiencing a small issue: sometimes the icons don't show up in the start menu. If I switch visual theme the icons are back.

Screen: http://stuff.kelsett.com/startisback/issue1.png

I'm running Windows 8 Professional x64 (French version), StartIsBack version 1.2.1, and I haven't tested if this happens with other visual themes but atm I'm using Aero 8 ;)

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Using it for 10 days and loving it. The only (minor) problem I have is that most of the time, when using the search box, the search results will not have their icon but a 'blank page' icon. It also occurs on the main menu, not just search. The proper icons will only show if I move or hover the mouse pointer over them, or move the selection with the keyboard arrows. Or perform the search again. Problem remains in 1.3RC0.

Edited by Amigafever
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Using it for 10 days and loving it. The only (minor) problem I have is that most of the time, when using the search box, the search results will not have their icon but a 'blank page' icon. The proper icons will only show if I move or hover the mouse pointer over them, or move the selection with the keyboard arrows. Problem remains in 1.3RC0.

I haven't seen this issue yet and can't reproduce it.

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this was available in older versions, but caused issues (not working correctly and some Lenovo laptops don't have a right Windows key).

I see, thanks. If these issues could be fixed, it'd be nice to have the option. The Lenovos could always use some other key(s). :)

Edited by Amigafever
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this was available in older versions, but caused issues (not working correctly and some Lenovo laptops don't have a right Windows key).

I see, thanks. If these issues could be fixed, it'd be nice to have the option. The Lenovos could always use some other key(s). :)

It's not just Lenovos. Most keyboards don't have a right windows key.

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this was available in older versions, but caused issues (not working correctly and some Lenovo laptops don't have a right Windows key).

I see, thanks. If these issues could be fixed, it'd be nice to have the option. The Lenovos could always use some other key(s). :)

It's not just Lenovos. Most keyboards don't have a right windows key.

Well, probably not many/most laptops, but all the desktop keyboards I have, at least the 14 I just checked (don't ask LOL), if they had one (13 did) then they had both. The other one was too old to have either. Admittedly, none of them are newer than 3 or 4 years old.

Cheers and Regards

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