WindowFX 4 Beta Has Arrived!

Published on October 28, 2010 By Island Dog In WinCustomize News

The long awaited beta for WindowFX 4 has arrived today, and users with an active Object Desktop subscription can download the beta via Impulse. This is a completely new app with a new direction from what you might have experienced with previous versions.

The beta includes:

Custom animations for window open/close/minimize/restore
Enhanced window resizing options when dragging to screen edges
Eliminate distractions by drawing attention to the foreground window
Enable window momentum when moving windows
Window Flick mouse actions to customize window movement, maximizing, and monitor location
Allow Flash videos to run full-screen on one monitor (on a multi-monitor system)
Semi-transparent windows when inactive or moving a window
Keep a clean desktop by automatically minimizing inactive windows after a configurable period
Extend right-click window menus with additional features including custom maximized window sizes and always-on-top visibility settings

We will be talking a lot more about the features soon, so keep an eye out for those articles. It’s not too late to get your Object Desktop subscription and check out not only WindowFX 4, but full versions of our other desktop enhancement apps like WindowBlinds, IconPackager, DeskScapes, and more!

www.objectdesktop.com

Comments (Page 6)

Excalpius

on Oct 31, 2010

Hey there! I was really not interested in another FX incarnation as I never found the point of the previous ones, but I've decided to keep this version running 24/7 after just playing with it once!

For me, I was looking for a solid solution for inactive window transparency and window momentum (very nice on a 3x30" screen desktop).

So this is awesome! So far no bugs in either of those for me on my uber machine. Windows 7 x64 btw.

Neil Banfield

on Oct 31, 2010

skyzyk

reply 74

Major problem with disappearing windows in several programs and Firefox.

Firefox, Photoshop, Apophysis -several lost renders, had to start all over, BSOD 2x, all when manipulating windows or minimizing. The bad parts FAR outweigh the good parts. For me this was not ready to be released. I am not impressed at all so far. All I see is disable this and disable that as advice, here in this thread. It's like disabling Windows Blin ds for all programs and apps. What are you left with, not much.

Windows 7 x64, ATI HD5750

If you have experienced BSOD then Windows will have pointed you to the offending component on reboot. I suspect you have defective video drivers and the bug in them is only being shown up by WindowFX. WindowFX itself is not capable of being the root cause of a BSOD (only kernel mode things can cause a BSOD)

You must remember this is beta software and it is expected there will be bugs. If you are uncomfortable with the possibility of there being bugs then do not use it.

Regarding missing windows, that is all linked to an issue with close animations. Disable those and it should be fine.

Jakob Grau

on Nov 02, 2010

My W7 x64 laptop takes forever to come out of hibernation since installing WindowFX 4 yesterday. I notice that several other people are reporting the same issue...

cavalierex

on Nov 02, 2010

This is a wonderful update to a great app!

I'm particularly happy to see the dimming/fading of inactive windows. I don't know if I had any influence on getting that feature added (see my thread in https://forums.wincustomize.com/166992), but I sure am glad to see that Stardock also thinks that it would be a useful feature.

One issue I experienced with that feature: If I have two instances of the same program open (e.g., two Firefox windows), then selecting one window will bring both into spotlight focus. Clicking elsewhere will dim both.

Of note, I have x-mouse functionality activated such that a window achieves focus when the mouse is over it, but is not raised to the foreground (i.e., you can type in a window in the background). Don't know if that affects things. Perhaps an x-mouse toggle could be added to the WindowFX console?

Best wishes an congrats on a great Beta!!!

skyzyk

on Nov 03, 2010

Neil Banfield

reply 77

Quoting skyzyk, reply 74Major problem with disappearing windows in several programs and Firefox.

Firefox, Photoshop, Apophysis -several lost renders, had to start all over, BSOD 2x, all when manipulating windows or minimizing. The bad parts FAR outweigh the good parts. For me this was not ready to be released. I am not impressed at all so far. All I see is disable this and disable that as advice, here in this thread. It's like disabling Windows Blin ds for all programs and apps. What are you left with, not much.

Windows 7 x64, ATI HD5750

If you have experienced BSOD then Windows will have pointed you to the offending component on reboot. I suspect you have defective video drivers and the bug in them is only being shown up by WindowFX. WindowFX itself is not capable of being the root cause of a BSOD (only kernel mode things can cause a BSOD)

You must remember this is beta software and it is expected there will be bugs. If you are uncomfortable with the possibility of there being bugs then do not use it.

Regarding missing windows, that is all linked to an issue with close animations. Disable those and it should be fine.

The BSOD was not due to FX4 Neither video driver but a new program installed and properly uninstalled. I find that a sidetrack. If yo omit the part about the BSOD All the other problems still exist and of that you don't say very much. When should we expect an update so we can enable everything we have disabled? I did follow your advice and uninstalled it. Sorry but it's not my fault if all you are getting is negative feedback about this product.

Neil Banfield

on Nov 04, 2010

skyzyk

reply 80

Quoting Neil Banfield,
reply 77

Quoting skyzyk, reply 74Major problem with disappearing windows in several programs and Firefox.

Firefox, Photoshop, Apophysis -several lost renders, had to start all over, BSOD 2x, all when manipulating windows or minimizing. The bad parts FAR outweigh the good parts. For me this was not ready to be released. I am not impressed at all so far. All I see is disable this and disable that as advice, here in this thread. It's like disabling Windows Blin ds for all programs and apps. What are you left with, not much.

Windows 7 x64, ATI HD5750

If you have experienced BSOD then Windows will have pointed you to the offending component on reboot. I suspect you have defective video drivers and the bug in them is only being shown up by WindowFX. WindowFX itself is not capable of being the root cause of a BSOD (only kernel mode things can cause a BSOD)

You must remember this is beta software and it is expected there will be bugs. If you are uncomfortable with the possibility of there being bugs then do not use it.

Regarding missing windows, that is all linked to an issue with close animations. Disable those and it should be fine.

The BSOD was not due to FX4 Neither video driver but a new program installed and properly uninstalled. I find that a sidetrack. If yo omit the part about the BSOD All the other problems still exist and of that you don't say very much. When should we expect an update so we can enable everything we have disabled? I did follow your advice and uninstalled it. Sorry but it's not my fault if all you are getting is negative feedback about this product.

Unless I am missing something you have only reported a single issue which is missing windows. As I explained this is probably linked to the close animation bug which can be avoided by not using close animations in beta 1.

There is an updated beta due to go out later today. I cannot promise it addresses all issues as sometimes the information provided is insufficient to reproduce the issue but it has a number of bug fixes based on internal testing along with beta user reports. It also adds in some new animations.

As with all betas it may still contain bugs.

Overall the feedback has been positive on WindowFX 4.

Neil Banfield

on Nov 04, 2010

This is just a quick post to say the beta 2 update is now up.

ALMonty

on Nov 04, 2010

My laptop wakes up from hibernation instantly now. Thanks Neil.

Wizard1956

on Nov 05, 2010

Overall the feedback has been positive on WindowFX 4.

It has my vote, plenty of options and everything runs smoothly.

The recent update has fixed the issues I had with minimizing/ restoring and transparency of inactive windows. Well done, thanks.

WebReg

on Nov 11, 2010

Is there any intention of reinstating the window animations in XP?

Seems odd that WFX3 could do this but WXF4 tells us we need Vista/7.

Daiwa

on Nov 11, 2010

Haven't tried it yet myself, but according to Neil you can run WFX3 & WFX4 simultaneously on XP.

WebReg

on Nov 11, 2010

Daiwa

reply 86

Haven't tried it yet myself, but according to Neil you can run WFX3 & WFX4 simultaneously on XP.

Yowza - that's just scary. That'll teach me for un-installing WFX3 before I installed WFX4.

DaveRI

on Nov 11, 2010

Ya I installed FX3 after uninstalling it and installing FX4, seem to be working together ok generally. Haven't dinked with the arrangement a lot though.

chillychan

on Nov 26, 2010

OK, I've got v3.99 (v4.0 RC) installed and everything's working great except Windows Flick.

I have all options off except Windows Flick and movement momentum. The default options

for flicks are set ("Fill 50% of left screen on left flick", etc.) Then, I tried flicking an explorer

window left, right, top and bottom but nothing seems to happen. Flicking means dragging a

window and then throwing it around the screen, right? I'm positive that WFX is enabled and

that the window I'm flicking is a re-sizable one. Can somebody please tell me what I'm

doing wrong? I'm using Win7 Ultimate x64 by the way.

Neil Banfield

on Nov 28, 2010

chillychan

reply 89

OK, I've got v3.99 (v4.0 RC) installed and everything's working great except Windows Flick.

I have all options off except Windows Flick and movement momentum. The default options

for flicks are set ("Fill 50% of left screen on left flick", etc.) Then, I tried flicking an explorer

window left, right, top and bottom but nothing seems to happen. Flicking means dragging a

window and then throwing it around the screen, right? I'm positive that WFX is enabled and

that the window I'm flicking is a re-sizable one. Can somebody please tell me what I'm

doing wrong? I'm using Win7 Ultimate x64 by the way.

It is probably how you are doing the flick itself.

A flick is a rapid movement in that direction. By rapid we mean the time between pressing the mouse button and releasing it is short. So dragging a window and then trying a flick would not work unless the mouse button was released in between the move and then the flick action.

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