winstep wrote:




That is something I forgot to check. I`ll do it on the next crash.

I am also thinking about reinstalling the beta, with the dreadful Bitdefender turned off. Is it possible that something got messed up during the setup because of that? Did not got any messages from the antivirus during install, that is why I am not sure if there could be the problem there. Other than that no Windows updates and no new software so no outside interference I could think of...

I don't think so...

In the mean time, I've added a 'Open as Grid Stack' option to the right click menu of folders.

LOL! Again, ballcocks!

On the serious side, this also involves copyright law and its infringement. Unless something is specifically and expressly stated to be 'freeware' or public domain, and it says on the tin that users may do with it as they please, or that a license specifically states this, any changes made to the appearance of e.g. a theme is a violation of copyright, in case nobody's been aware of that.

This could potentially at least leave you, Jorge, liable to prosecution and/or claims for legal damages.

Food for thought....

Is another beta in the offing? I have beta2 been following this and other threads in this forum trying to keep up to date.

I'll take my chances lol. Winstep is not a content provider nor a publisher.

Soon, but mainly because of the chance of corrupting a Shelf or Drawer if a Grid Stack is dragged into it or within it.

Not at present, no. But, and this is a big but, Winstep apps provide tools specifically designed to modify themes while *not* providing any means for skinners to disable some or all such behaviour. Neither are there any legal disclaimers and/or clarifications either on the web site or with the software. So it's a potentially tricky situation that *could* be exploited by some unscrupulous individual or corporate body who fancies owning Winstep without having to pay for it.

Also, once the Winstep theme repository is in place, Winstep does effectively become a publisher, with all the same liabilities and risks.

Really? Guess you would be able to say the same regarding every forum out there.

Indeed, Jorge. Even 'social media' are still having to fight tooth and nail against being deemed publishers. Which they should be.

It's no laughing matter. As a published author and artist I'm acutely aware of copyright issues.

Just trying to be helpful and make you aware of potential pitfalls, Jorge, so please 'don't shoot the messenger'.

I have an icon from one of my HDDs in one of my grid stacks.

The HDDs are set to turn off after 20min.

Each time the HDD has to spin up I have to wait for that grid stack to open.

Is that one of the reasons to put icons in RAM? It would be neat indeed.

winstep wrote:




Got my workshelf part disappearing again short after turning my PC on. It was present in the task manager and once I close it I had no problem restarting the app.

Yesterday I left my PC unattended for about 4 hours during a virus scan. Workshelf behaved really well. No crashes. So I guess the problem is somehow related to that WsMMPlayer.exe and also at boot time something happens. I will not use the MPlayer today to see if I get any abnormal behaviour.

No, I don't think it will work. The icons may be cached in memory, but the actual folder items still need to be enumerated every time the GStack is opened.

On the other hand, we are talking about shortcuts in that folder, not the actual files, so there is a possibility it *might* work.

This said, it's a bad idea to have your HDDs go to sleep (unless you are trying to save on electricity costs): each spin down/spin up cycle causes a lot of mechanical and thermal stress on the drive, something that would not happen if the drive was always spinning. Ever noticed how lamps normally only go out with a bang when you turn them on? Same thing here.

Yeah I have been debating myself on that for decades. I would assume HDDs had gotten much better over time allowing for more spindown/spinup.

Thing is, and without any intention to compare. Rocketdock never did that so the developer of that one did it in a different way.

If you cannot find a way around, nevermind, I can leave the HDDs on then.

HDDs have gotten much better, but that is not the point, is it? The point is what you are really trying to accomplish here: save electricity (I don't think that's it) or extend the life of your HDDs? Because if you are going for the latter, powering mechanical drives on and off only increases wear and tear and the chances of them failing by an order of magnitude.

I remember having that debate myself some years ago, but the general consensus seems to be that it's the constant stop/start cycles that end up killing hard drives and other electronic material. Obviously, if you only use a particular drive once in a blue moon, even if this is true it's not going to make any practical difference.

There is also this report made by Google some years ago based on their farm of hard drives where they state that, against popular belief, LOW temps on a hard drive are just as deadly as very high temps. Mechanical HDDs optimum temperature range is 35-45C.

My systems is on 24/7, and so are all my hard drives, even the external ones.



Definitely. I had a look at the code and it seems to me that it is the actual part of retrieving the icon image that would wake up the hard drive - this because the icon retrieving routine goes after the original icon and not the shortcut's icon.



We'll see. Either way you still have that very first access where the icons haven't been cached yet.

Vlad, you only started experiencing these problems now. I didn't change anything related to media playing, so what changed on your system?

Did you read that thread with me and Seeker going back and forth for ages until we figured out the (very improbable) cause and solution? That is a very deep rabbit hole to have to go through.

What codec packs did you install on your system?