AWM 4.0 Beta 2 Testing - Forum «Beta Testing»

Home
Products
Download
Order
News
- Latest news
- Newsletter
Support
- FAQ
- How to Upgrade
- Restore License Key
- Online Demos
- Online User Manual
- Forums
- Announcements
- General
- Feature Requests
- Technical Support
- Tips and Tricks
- Beta Testing
- Feedback Form
- Beta Testing Section
Resources
Company
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Privacy
- Our Clients
- Press Center
- Press Releases
- In The News
- Reviewer's Guide
- Logos and Screenshots
- Publishing-friendly Graphics

Forums list

New topics

Topics list

Help

Topic: «AWM 4.0 Beta 2 Testing , My results... » on forum: Beta Testing

Scott
Advanced user

Posts: 141
Joined: 04/11/2005

Posted: 04/07/2006 22:47:07

This is a list of issues I have found with Actual Window Manager 4.0 beta 2. I am using Windows XP Professional SP2. I have exported a full "System Information" report, and can provide it (via email, not the forum) as SYSINFO.ZIP.

-----

1. After doing a clean install, and launching AWM configuration and AWM itself, the nag screen appeared multiple times.

2. Also after a clean install, the nag screen said I was on day 29 of a 52-day evaluation. Neither number seems correct.

3. This problem has two parts:

a) If I purposely enter invalid registration information, I get the appropriate error "The Name/Code combination is invalid." After clicking OK, the "Register Actual Window Manager!" dialog also closes, so there is no second chance without manually reopening it. (Maybe this is on purpose, but it is somewhat of an inconvenience for registered users who mistype the name or code.)

b) If I enter my registration information from AWM 3 (which is valid for AWM 3, but not for AWM 4), I get the message "Thank you for your registration! Please restart the application to complete the registration." The registration information is entered into the registry. But when I restart AWM 4, it is not registered. The problem, then, is that AWM 4 reports successful registration even though that is not the case.

4. GUI problems. Many parts of the GUI appear too small or not at all. Some parts of the GUI are unreadable or unusable. Because of hardware and visual needs, I use 120 DPI, not 96 DPI. The use of 120 DPI may be related to this problem.

Screen shots:

5. My "All Windows" settings from AWM 3 included a "Send to Bottom" title bar button. After importing these settings into AWM 4, and clicking the "Save Changes" toolbar button, the "Send to Bottom" was correctly added to all title bars. However, the "Send to Bottom" option in the AWM configuration window remained unchecked (until the AWM configuration window was closed and reopened). Please see screen show awm07.png, which shows the "Send to Bottom" title bar button, the "Send to Bottom" check box, and the fact that changes have been saved.

Screen shot:

6. Extremely minor "problem": If an item under the hotkeys configuration window is selected, then the "Enable hotkeys" option is unchecked, all hotkey items are greyed out except the one that was selected. I do feel stupid reporting this, but it does look a little odd.

Screen shot:

7. After importing my settings from AWM 3 into AWM 4, the AWM configuration window no longer remembered its size or position, and reverted to the default size/position each time it was launched. All the internal window settings were also lost (the frame splitter position, tree state, etc.).

8. The "Title Buttons" window isn't user-friendly at all, at least on my system. I have to either click or hover over each item to see what it is.

Screen shot:

9. When I exit AWM, Miranda IM 0.4.0.3 ( http://www.miranda-im.org/ ) sometimes exits as well, for no apparent reason. Miranda IM doesn't appear to be crashing, since I get no error or crash dialogs of any kind--it just exits, though it should not be. I cannot explain it better than that. I do have a window rule for Miranda IM, but it is not enabled.

10. The worst problem I've found: With AWM running, many standard file operations hang for ~30-60 seconds. For example, sometimes, when I double click a small text file in an Explorer window, it takes a full minute or longer for the file to be opened in my text editor. When I double click a folder under the Start Menu, to open an Explorer window rooted in that folder, the entire shell (Explorer) freezes for a minute or two before the folder is finally opened.

The problems mentioned here in number 10 did not happen before I installed AWM, and they don't happen if I restart Windows and do not run AWM. Also, I've had problems like this with all prior versions of AWM I have used, going back at least to version 3. (I have written to Actual Tools support quite a few times about it.)

Top

Alexey Fadeyev
Administrator

Moderator

Posts: 1427
Joined: 09/30/2005

Posted: 04/17/2006 04:38:56

Scott,

Thank you very much for your participation in our beta test and for such a detailed feedback. Here are my comments on it:

1. It is not a bug. AWM and its configuration are separate applications and each of them shows its own nag screen.

2. It is correct indeed because of the fact that beta 2 was released March, 13 and hardcoded to limit its usage until May, 1.

3. Well, thanks for this note. We will analyze this situation further and try to improve it.

4. Currently this problem seems to be fixed because the auto UI resizing has been implemented.

5. The bug is confirmed and should be fixed until the final release.

6. Actually it is the standard way in which Windows shows the inactive listview control.

7. Currently the persistence of UI preferences isn't implemented yet so the related options arent' imported at all.

8. Thanks for the note, we will try to fix this issue.

9. We will investigate this situation further to find the exact cause.

10. It seems the cause is in your particular software environment because many our users with similar configurations don't have any similar problems. Do you run any anti-virus or other OS extenders along with AWM?

Top

User(s) reading this topic

Number of guests: 1, registered members: 0, in total hidden: 0