You can download the new beta from:

http://pwp.netcabo.pt/jcrabbit/xtreme-beta.zip

IMPORTANT: This beta package is an update and MUST be installed on top of a previous Winstep Xtreme 8.9 or later installation!

Before running XtremeSetup.exe, remember to exit all Winstep applications first.

Beta 2 fixes a number of issues and improves on some of the new features introduced in beta 1.

A new and extremely useful addition is that menus now display document thumbnails on mouse over - you no longer have to right click a document on a menu to see the respective thumbnail. Makes browsing folders and looking for files via NextSTART menus a LOT faster.

I also added a 'Tasklist Style' option (Classic and Win 7) to task context menus in order to quickly switch between both styles.

As usual, the complete list of changes, fixes and additions can be found in the History files after installation.

This is going to be a very quick beta, so I need feedback on any issues as fast as possible, please. The official 8.11 version should be released in the next few days.

Have fun,

Hi Jorge!

I think Winstep is getting better and better! Outstanding! You are the greatest!

I see much development in Nextstart...

Great thing is browsing with Nextstart (i know why i love Nextstart!!!!) so if the mouse is over a jpg, a preview is shown. this is also working for pdf and avi (it depends if the windows player has the codec or not), otherwise the icon is shown from the attached app. Example: For AVI-Files my standard player is vlc. If mediaplayer has the codec, a preview is shown, otherwise the vlc standard logo is shown.


Can you please also add this feature for mp3 (mouse over plays music), excel, winword and it would be nice to browse also Zipfiles. Ok, in the future.

I suggest to use the VLC media Player for the previews of videos and music because he has the most codecs and is a free download.

Now to the not logical things (Nextstart Taskbar).

I have configured the taskbar that the app icon is shown and also the Label (show label). If i select in the taskbar settings/Style/Windows 7 then automatically the tasks have no lables anymore ( hide label), also taksgrouping is lost.

I find it a little bit difficult to find the tasklist settings, you have to right click on a task. If i look to window, i would expect the tasklist settings on the startbar. i think the problem may be is the feature that the taskbar can be detached from the startbar. May be it is a good thing, that also a right click in the startbar offers the tasklist settings?

Is it right, that nextstart systray is now fully supporting Vista x64? As far as i can see all systray entries are there.

i give up to find bugs....

Nextstart Tasklist, config group task.
Start two times explorer
In the tasklist you will see the '2*explorer' task.
Open this Group
you will see here the two tasks.
mouseover one task till the preview is shown.
Now click in this preview for switching to this task.

Run-time error '10': This array is fixed or temporarily locked



uff... i thought that i will find no bug... 1:0 for me

i have configured vista that the windows are not animated if i minimize or maximize. (visuell effects)

As soon as i go in Nextstart in the tasklist over a task so that the preview is popping up vista is configured to animate windows (mini/maximize).

Mmmhhh...

Very minor bug with the taskbar in Win 7 style. I'm running the Aero LowRes skin an noticed that in WIn 7 mode the clock on the taskbar displays the time in black rather than in white (as does in classic mode). Makes it very hard to see the time.

Fixed all the issues reported here, thanks to all!

If you are running on Win7 mode (i.e. with no labels) I strongly suggest you reset that setting before upgrading to the official release (otherwise just load your current theme again).

I was using a skinning related setting until now, which had the drawback Chris mentioned and that was reset whenever you switched themes. I am now using a per-user setting that overrides the skinning setting (the NeXTSTEP theme, for instance, has square task buttons without a label).

I also added this per-user setting to the Tasklist Settings panel in Preferences.

Chris, does the new build fix the problems you were having with the Peek window function in XP?

A silly question:

what is the windows 7 mode? Except that in nextstart the taskbar has only icons?

Hehe. Not much, really, and is more an aesthetic style since the 'meat' of the functionality relies on the new window thumbnails, peek window function, etc..., which work regardless of the current tasklist style.

Win7 will, by default, display the taskbar with large 32x32 icons, no labels and task grouping enabled, in case you haven't seen the videos yet.

If i create a hotspot that starts the windows start menu, and associate it with the start button instead of the default hotspot 0, how can i make the win start menu always appear to the left edge of the screen and at the top of the themes startbar? No matter what i set the horizontal, vertical position to, it always seems to snap to the mouse postition even though i have that uncheked......

Hi Jorge,

Not entirely. The transition from transparency to full opacity is really slow and choppy. I don't recall if any of the windows got stuck at near full transparency again.

I'll try it again in the morning.

I tried it again today on my XP computer at work. It seems to behave better, but its still very slow and choppy. I'm not sure why because it happens under both monitors / video cards: the built in Intel card and the Nvidia card.

Perhaps consider adding an option to turn off the transparency-to-opcacity transition when using the peek feature?

With the new Logitech Setpoint Version 4.70 x64 there seems to be a bug in the driver. This Problem is not with Setpoint Version 4.60 x64 and smaller.

Problem:

If you use Nextstart to browse let's say 3 levels but it doesn't matter eg.(c:\windows\system32\drivers) let the cursor on the last level for ca. 3 Sec doing nothing. Then you will see, that all Nextstart windows will be "hidden", that meens you see nothing anymore, only light yellow blocks in the size of the nextstart windows.

Just give you the information jorge for knowing that this problem exists and it is not a coding problem... or is it?

With other windows software i don't see this problem.

Any chance of two screenshots, a 'before' and an 'after'?

Anyway, I'm sick to my stomach with buggy Logitech software. Once I had to correct a problem with their Webcam control panel applet which would cause NextSTART and WorkShelf to crash (and any other program that tried the same *except* for Explorer) the second they tried to display a Control Panel menu or shelf.

Logitech web cams being so popular, it's easy to see the adverse effect this was having on Winstep software - a user with a Logitech web cam installed on his system would try to open the Control Panel shelf and WorkShelf would crash. He would try to open the Control Panel menu and NextSTART would crash, taking the systray and Windows taskbar along with it. Who would he blame? Logitech? Of course not, he would simply assume Winstep software was buggy as hell and proceed to uninstall it.

It was a MAJOR PAIN to figure out what was causing the problem, and a MAJOR PAIN to come up with a fix. I ended up having to buy a Logitech web cam in order to work around their buggy software.

Trying to get in touch with Logitech so they could fix their own damn problem accomplished nothing, either, I was just given the run-around, of course.

This said, I love their hardware, but their software sucks really badly.

Just to give you another example: the special buttons in my MX Revolution mouse stop working as soon as Outlook decides to 'freeze' whislt checking the Winstep IMAP account (this can happen several times a day, Outlook and IMAP suck too ).

Turns out Setpoint hooks into every process, and, of course, Logitech software engineers being what they are, didn't stop to think what would happen if one of those processes hung and what could be done to avoid this problem.

Here are the Screenshots:

1. Thats how it is if call nextstart



2. After 1 to 3 seconds, the current menu is invisible and the parent is a yellow block:




3. If i now move the mouse cursor on the submenue, it is when i move the mouse not hidden. All parents are yellow blocks.




now uninstalling this driver.

Thorsten