Played a bit more with it, it happens to the docks and modules who have they z order set to be always on bottom

Ok, try one thing: open the windows calculator and leave it open on the screen. Now try clicking on the always on bottom modules - do you still get the flicker when the calculator window is visible on the desktop?

yes, and the calculator itself doesn't flicker (none of the winstep apps or icons ever do)

could be something to do with my graphics drivers maybe though dont rember noticing anything similar with other apps
(amd radeon 8570M and HD Graphics 4000 dual graphics)

had the crash again, here is C/P from 'program has stopped working' dialog

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: WorkShelf.exe
Application Version: 16.12.0.1191
Application Timestamp: 584a1ce2
Fault Module Name: StackHash_1abe
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Code: 80000002
Exception Offset: 76f0a1d8
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1050
Additional Information 1: 1abe
Additional Information 2: 1abee00edb3fc1158f9ad6f44f0f6be8
Additional Information 3: 1abe
Additional Information 4: 1abee00edb3fc1158f9ad6f44f0f6be8

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Look at the Fault Module Name entry, that's not the name of a WorkShelf module.

StackHash_xxxx crashes are normally caused by Heap Corruption Exceptions or by DEP (Data Execution Prevention).

Funny you mention ATI/AMD drivers: read THIS related post.

Also, go to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Settings button in the Performance section -> Data Execution Prevention tab.

What option is selected? Is DEP turned on for all programs and services or for Windows programs and services only?

Also, when that crash happened, what were you doing? Start monitoring workshelf.exe with the Windows Task Manager. Let it run for a while then use the Processes tab of the Windows Task Manager to monitor memory/GDI/USER object usage over time. Is it stable or does it keep increasing?

windows only


at different occasions using quirc firefox or chrome, and watching videos in gom player

One possible solution mentions enabling DEP for all applications and then adding workshelf.exe to the exclusion list.

However, I am more and more convinced that the crashes are caused by something external to WorkShelf.



So, on all those occasions you weren't even directly interacting with it.

no except if an active module could have triggered it

Getting back to this:



The 'animated email icon' there is the Cabal Email icon replacement. Themes can provide a replacement icon for in-dock modules, and those icons have nothing to do with user customized icon backgrounds for those modules.

So, when you switch to a different theme, if there is a replacement icon matching that theme in the theme files, the Winstep application will automatically use that (provided there are no user customized backgrounds, which take priority).

You are using Cabal Xtreme1 as one of the themes in your config.

it doesn't use it, it flickers between the the cabal icon and the icon its set to use, its a few frames of cabal, then few frames of the other icon

Ah, ok, gotcha, thanks!

not sure what do you mean by GDI, user is stable, always my windows user profile
workshef does seem to use more memory each time i launch something trough it

within a couple of launches the usage rose to 31800 K, then droped to 29930 K, then after i tried some more (even reopening already opened and closed folders) it continued growing

it seems every launch (program or folder) adds about 1000K, it releases some og that but not everything

What you're describing is a normal memory usage pattern.

What I was looking for was a leak, in which case memory usage would be constantly going up (doesn't really bounce up and down) at a somewhat steady rate.

Anyway, seems to be that if these crashes were common/widespread, more people would have intervened in this thread already. This further reinforces my impression that the crashes you are experiencing are related to third party software.

before it started and since i installed

winstep update
free download manager (update) -rarely runs
jap -ran once
team viewer -ran once
yahoo messenger - runs often
cybergost update from 5 to 6 -ran few times
discord update -ran 2 times
kvirc -runs often
second life- ran few times


software i installed recently but before crashes started (to my recolection)

firefox update
pot player update -rarely runs
waterfox -ran once

no driver updates or system/sttings changed
no noticable crashes before the winstep update, maybe half a dozen to dozen total

im gona try to do a clean instal of winstep incase something went wrong during the update