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+-- Forum: True Launch Bar plugins (http://forum.tordex.com/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: Plugin features and improvements (http://forum.tordex.com/forum-15.html)
+--- Thread: plugins are useless - why use plugins (/thread-1046.html)
- sdennis91 - 12-09-2003
Months ago when i first bought truelaunchbar the plugins wouldn't work for me without bogging out my pc and crashing it. So i decided to wait till more of them were final and no longer beta. Well i noticed that not many are beta now however there were no imporvements to the plugins they are still the same explorer crashing .dll. As long as i don't use plugins truelaunchbar works fine which tells me that plugins should not be used nor supported. So yet again i'm not using plugins again. They are useless.
- shapeshifter - 12-09-2003
I've used (and loved) plugins from the very first day I installed TLB. They're one of the main reasons I purchased a copy. I've never had any major problems with TLB crashing on my system. Maybe TLB is conflicting with other software you're running?
- bbfi - 12-09-2003
I agree with shapeshifter. Plugins are a great idea and work well on my system. Without them, I would be at a loss. There were some problems at first, but most of the bugs have been worked out thanks to Yuri and if there are problems, Yuri is always there to help solve them.
I would suggest that you mention either here at the forum or email to Yuri what your system is and the software you are running. As shapeshifter mentioned, it could be a conflict with some other software. ???
I had a problem with Avast 4 antivirus not being able to run on my computer. But posting my info at the Avast forum and other forum members posting theirs, Alwil was able to track down the problem and solve it. Yuri can probably do the same, but won't be able to without some information to go by. ???
- Zero-Point - 12-09-2003
I have only had one problem with a plug-in and it was quickly resolved. True Launch Bar is quite stripped without the help of the great plug-ins. Not that the base of TLB is bad, but there is so much more that the plug-ins offer. Just because one (or a few) person is having problems, doesn't mean they are useless nor should they be supported.
If it was that way (not supported) then you surely would not be getting any help trying to resolve your issues. Then again, you did not post information about your system to receive help therefore strengthening your theory. ???
- Doug Smith - 12-09-2003
Forget it. It's same troll posting under different names: See
http://www.tsoftcentral.com/cgi-bin....;t=1027
He got caught trying to use a pirated version so now he's trolling.
- sdennis91 - 12-13-2003
i am not using a pirated version. i paid for true launch bar. u can ask yuri that one. its just everytime i put a plugin on my taskbar my pc crashes out. as far as my system goes i have windows xp pro with sp1 installed as well as ontrack anti virus from system suite 5. i also use zone alarm and mbm 5. among other software i have installed is window blinds, windows fx, and everything else that comes with object desktop. FOr cd burning i use nero. The worse crash though is when i use the cd plug in though. i try to open a cdrom drive and it crashes out. and if i use the net monitor plug in then i lose internet and the pc hangs for some time as well. all the other plugsins just make my pc run ever so slow and im using a pentium 4 2.4ghz cpu with 768mbs of ram and a 128mb ati 9200 video card with latest drivers from ati site. i'm not sure whats going on but its annoying. if more info is needed please feel free to ask.
- shapeshifter - 12-13-2003
My system specs aren't as good as yours, and I don't have any of the problems you listed. So I wonder, what's the difference? Here are some of my thoughts:
1) I don't use any antivirus software. I don't download programs from untrusted sites on the net, nor do I open attachments from people I don't recognize, so I don't feel like I need one. I've never been infected with a virus in 10+ years of PC computing. All the antivirus software I've ever tried slows down my system considerably. I assume this is because the virus checker has to scan every file as it is opened and check every command that goes through the processor. I just find it easier and faster doing without one.
2) I tried Zone Alarm for about 2 days. It didn't cooperate well with TLB (specifically the mail monitor plugin), so I deleted it and hooked up a hardware firewall. Hardware firewalls will always be more secure and resource friendly than software. If you can afford one, I highly recommend it.
3) I used MBM for a while, but quickly realized that it didn't tel me nearly enough useful information to justify all the resources it was using. My CPU temp never varied much, my fan speeds were pretty consistant, and the rest of the information was either useless or not supported by my hardware. Cool to have? Sure. Useful? Possibly for troubleshooting, but not much else. I prefer not to use it.
4) Window Blinds? On Windows XP? I don't see the point. You can do anything Window Blinds can do (and more) easier with Visual Styles. You can't get rid of Visual Styles in XP, so why add more software (and use more resources) to duplicate its functionality? As for the rest of Stardock's stuff, that's your call I suppose. Personally, I think it's far too resource hungry for what little it does. If you look around, you can find free software to duplicate the effects you want (TLB's plugins for instance).
5) I hate Nero, but that's just my opinion. Nero found all sorts of creative ways to use up my system resources, even when it wasn't running. That's one of my pet peeves: if I'm not using it, I don't want it taking up resources. I've found several other good programs to handle all my burning, ripping, and emulation needs.
6) Bug reports don't do us much good without version numbers. If you've got a problem with one of the plugins, (CD, NetMon, etc), let us know what version you're using. Yuri updates the software very regularly. The better you help him reproduce and/or understand your bug, the sooner he'll have it fixed. Also, what sort of internet connection do you have (cable/dsl, dial-up, T1, etc)? Also, it'd be a good idea to search the forums and the TLB FAQ to see if the problems you're having are addressed there.
7) My suggestion: unload (not uninstall) all the software I listed above (as well as any other non-essential programs and utilities) and try running TLB "clean". If you still have problems, by all means post the details so Yuri can see about fixing them. If not (which is my suspicion), reload your software one at a time, and see which one is causing a conflict, then post that here as well. Yuri can't make TLB more friendly to other programs if he doesn't know which ones it doesn't get along with. If you spent the $20 (or whatever) to register your copy of TLB, why wouldn't you want to take advantage of this free access to the devloper to make it better?
8) For future reference, any who cares enough about TLB to read these topics won't respond well to you bashing any of its components. If you got a problem, try to help us duplicate and isolate it so it can be fixed.
- IceCaveman - 12-13-2003
@Shapeshifter
WindowsBlinds perhaps takes up more memory than visual styles but it takes less cpu to render than visual styles as it does not update the images constantly as Windows usually does and has hyper painting. So for people like me it gives some boost as memory is less of a problem. WindowsBlinds also skins more than visual styles and can skin every program I want it to. It also is capable of changing locations of buttons on the title bar and add many function buttons, that usually requiers loading up another program, witch then takes up more than just loading WindowsBlinds - with another words :You get full control of your skins. I have never expirienced it having negative effects on TLB stability. For some people hovever windows blinds does not run so well, just like TLB, that's just typical conflict beetween software and drivers and not usually is not the fault of the programmers.
- Q Section - 12-14-2003
Hello Everyone
Well we have about the opposite situation as shapeshifter on this, our testing computer. All at the same time we have running:
TLB 2.2.0.11beta
Custom Weather Monitor 1.2beta
WorldFlash News Ticker Gold M5.37
(one of the) Instant Messengers
An radio station re-broadcasted on the internet
A Firewall
An anti-virus program
An anti-worm program
Two anti spyware programs
A cookie manager program
An anti-ad program
TClock2
Proxomitron
A registry protection program
Cacheman memory management
Windows 98SE
PII-450mHz
320MB RAM
IE 6.0 SP1
We probably forgot one or two. We do not get crashes. So.....If we have this stability with what we have then surely your machine can do better. All it will take is a patient, careful analysis and implementation of the solution.
Yes - we know it would be so great to just download interesting programs and have them run with no problems but since Microsoft left us with such a problem-ridden operating system it is a wonder that the third-party developers can even write programs that work as well as they do.
We wish you the best. If we can help we will make a post.
- SlowNeasy - 12-16-2003
I'm running tlb on a Athlon 1600+, WXP SP1 (with hotfixes). NOD32 AV, ZoneAlarm Pro, and several other trojan software programs. I use netmeter to monitor internet activity (free program). For cd burning/emulation I use Nero 5.5x and Alcohol 120%. I'm also a strong OD supporter and always have WB, Icon Packager, Objectbar and Objectdock running. Haven't tried Windows FX in a long time. Slowed my system down too much. It didn't like nVidia drivers the last time I tried it.
All of the above work fine with me. The point being you have a software conflict of some sort. Load what you consider essential on startup and gradually add the programs that you always want running to try and narrow down the problem.
Good luck