Using Winstep 8.2, Vista Home Premium w/ nVidia 8600M GT video card

When I click on the NextSTART start button, go to Settings, then go to Control Panel, the Control Panel menu pops up. But when Control Panel loses focus (either selecting a Control Panel menu item or going to another menu), NextSTART shuts down and returns to almost normal Windows behavior, except for a total lack of a Start button (I can still click in area to access start menu) or Systray (no access at all) on the original Windows task bar.

I have verified this behavior with various Winstep themes. I have also tried various NextSTART configurations, as well as disabled every other running program to eliminate any conflicts. The problem persists. Please advise.

Sounds to me like a corrupt control panel applet or something similar...

What happens if you open the Control Panel shelf in WorkShelf?

Accessing the Control Panel via WorkShelf works just fine, regardless of whether or not NextSTART is on. However, NextSTART shuts down regardless of whether WorkShelf is on.

Bump. Jorge, please advise as the only reason I bought Winstep was for NextSTART. If that's not working, I've wasted my money.

Ooops, sorry Chuck, read your reply but did not answer immediately then forgot about it...

Alright, no idea what might be happening there - except for the corrupt Control Panel applet, although I don't understand why it would cause NextSTART to crash but not WorkShelf, especially only when closing the menu.

Here is a workaround for you to try:

1 - Open the Windows Control Panel in Classic View under Explorer.
2 - Create a new, blank, menu (either via the Menu Editor or by righ clicking on the main NextSTART menu and selecting 'Insert', which I think is a lot easier ).
3 - Select all the items in the Control Panel window and drag them into the new menu.
4 - Assuming the new menu doesn't crash NextSTART when you close it, delete the old Control Panel menu and replace it with the new one.
5 - Keep me posted about what happened.

If you run into the same problem with the new menu, that would be the perfect moment to troubleshoot things: delete the new menu, create another blank menu and start dragging the Control Pannel items one by one - each time opening and closing the new menu - until you run into the NextSTART crash. When that happens, the last item dragged is the culprit (or should be).

Jorge,

thanks for the reply. I followed your instructions. I tried recreating the Control Panel and dragging over groups of 10 shortcuts at a time alphabetically to speed up the process. It crashed with the last group. I focused on that last group but found nothing wrong with just adding those shortcuts.

I then tried adding one shortcut at a time to another new menu until it crashed (Windows Update). I started over, skipped Windows Update, then added the last Control Panel shortcut (Wireless Configuration). Again it crashed. I focused on just those two, but no problem with just those two.

I then started another new menu, going backward alphabetically (starting with Wireless Configuration, then Windows Update). I did not encounter a problem until I got to the next to last shortcut.

I've come to this conclusion: The Vista control panel consists of 60 menu items. If I add more than 58 (of any combination), NextSTART crashes on this system. I can't say if it's the number specifically or a certain combination of shortcuts, but I have simply created a shortened version of the Control Panel as a work around, including a shortcut to the entire Control Panel via the normal window. It works for me now, but I'll let you knowif I encounter any other issues.

The plot thickens, Watson!

Question: do you have menus set to display scroll arrows or 'more' at the bottom (Menu Settings in Preferences)? Does it make any difference one way or the other?

I had it originally set on the default ('more'), then tried with the scroll arrows. It does not shutdown with the scroll arrows, but the start button (regardless of theme) disappears. It reappears a second or two after closing the menu, and occasionally just shuts down graphically (still running in process explorer).

Wow. You are having some very weird symptoms in there.

I'll just stick with my work around.