I just recently installed Aston on one of my accounts. Everything was good until i logged off. I logged back on and everything was grey? There was no gui, nothing except a blank screen. Luckily CTRL ALT Delete worked and i was able to log of and switch to a new account. Does anyone know how to fix this problem? Ive had problems with my system Gui before, after using the free windows blinds from alienware sometimes the startbar and desktop ini don't load and my icons become part of my background.
Aston Desktop Shell
(151 posts) (28 voices)-
This is a possible fix to restore the registry settings back to the Windows XP defaults. Try it at your own risk, I am not responsible for anything that may or may not happen.
Instructions:
1. Download SHELLXP.REG from http://pnope.com/blkh and save it to your C:\
2. Open the Task Manager (PRESS CTRL+ALT+DEL) and run the following command:
'REGEDIT /s C:\SHELLXP.REG'
3. RebootHopefully this will work for any of you who are running into the no shell problem, but there are no guarantees. I have not run into this problem specifically with Aston, but have with Talisman.
Posted 17 years ago # -
pauloparra
MemberYes, How do you switch Aston back to explorer?
Posted 17 years ago # -
MrBean
MemberI have the same problem. I installed Aston on 3 of my PC's. One of them I have tried to work with, but I didnot like it. PC was becoming slow. So I decided to uninstall the software. Now I can only startup the PC, choose a user, and then, all I get is a black screen, no icons, no software, nothing. I tried several things to startup and fix it, but nothing helps. Is rebooting with from a startup-CD an option?
Who can help?Posted 17 years ago # -
MrBean
Member@ BuBBy - thanks, the problems I have are with one PC, because I was so stupid to uninstall this shell-software. I had to go to IE first.... The other 2 PC's would be much easier to remove this software.
I have found a way to solve the problem (uninstalling Aston while it is running) and you end with a Windows XP system with no shell - don't panic.
It will probably boot into a screen with only the mouse showing.
Start Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL) (this is all you can do....)
File/Run...
Regedit [Enter]- To set the DEFAULT system shell:
* Locate the following key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
* Change the string value named "Shell" to the location of the file you
want to use as your default system shell.
For Explorer use (do not specify a path):
Explorer.exeThanks to The Real Shark from http://www.wincustomize.com
Posted 17 years ago # -
inneedof1
Memberpauloparra? to switch back to IE do this: on the left of your "desk top double click there and icons will pop out, then look for Aston, then scroll further to the right icon where it says "shell swapper" once there select IE, then hit OK and it will do the rest. It will reboot back with IE.
And you can do the same to get back to Aston, hope this helps.
Posted 17 years ago # -
merqueen
MemberHi Inneedof1, tysvm, i did what you said here in the forum, was easy, and fast, I was so afraid with every one saying there pc, crashed, when trying to remove this, that I just left it on here, program is cool, and all, but I could barely find my folders, so wanted my regular old desktop back, again thanks,
MerqueenPosted 17 years ago # -
Aiden
MemberI figured out of to fix the Blank desktop problem! (this is if Aston is still running! and the Aston shell didn't load)
Press Ctrl+alt+delete
Go to applications tab
click new task
type in "windows Explorer" without "
navigate to the folder you installed Aston on and run the shell switcher
select Explorer and click ok...this should restore default windows
If the shell switcher does not appear on screen when clicked Dont panic! Just run the Aston Master program and open shell switcher from their :)
Also if you have a computer that has alot of stuff on it... ex: my pc has 2 hard drives and over 1 mil files, more than 4 accounts and have used stuff such as windows blinds always be carefull installing anything that modifies the default theme, because the default theme may never have reset.
Posted 17 years ago # -
At first I was absolutely thrilled with this shell. It DID have a low resource footprint. However when I realized that I had no access to the regular windows Explorer shell even when I went to Aston Switcher and picked it, I was less than enthusiastic. So I looked for another way to unload the shell. Could not even find a way to shutdown and/or restart the computer. Eventually I pulled the plug, so to speak, and turned the computer off. When I turned it back on, chkdsk was working and said 0% complete for so long I went to bed. I did see the hd light blinking so thought maybe in the morning, it would be okay. Well fortunately all was well. It was okay. Cannot figure out why when they built such a beautiful program that you could not drag and drop shortcuts onto the various bars. it was quite cumbersome to find the correct place to be able to add a program. I think if they called this a beta and ASKED us to beta test it with the reward of getting a free copy once perfected, I would be more enthusiastic, but very saddened that I could not easily and quickly change back to Windows even tho there appeared to be a button to let you do that. Does anyone know if this shell was created by a nightimer from Microsoft? No reflection of GOTD. I am sure they cannot teat every piece of software they advertise for free!
Posted 17 years ago # -
BillW50
MemberHi cpedley! Well I installed it on 4 computers and I haven't seen a problem yet (well the tooltips don't always match the icon is the only thing wrong I can see). And actually the one we got is about 7 months old. And according to those in the Aston forum, our version is the most stable.
Yeah drag and drop doesn't work except to drag explorer files to the desktop. And I have mixed opinions on this one. As it is hard to have someone come in and screw up your desktop on you. Another is that the Windows Desktop has a nasty habit of moving your icons around. So far, Aston doesn't have this problem either. Plus creating shortcuts with the various bars isn't really that hard once you get the hang of it.
And I can't swear to it, but I believe when you use the shell swapper, you click on two from that menu. Meaning the shell you want to switch too and the shell swapper. I think that is how it is supposed to work anyway. As I did it wrong once and I got no desktop. LOL But through the Windows Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL) I ran the Swapper again and it worked.
I don't think this version is really buggy. I just think it is different and we just have to learn some new habits. I personally am really impressed with it. And it works well on Windows 98SE and Windows 2000 machines too. Weird having your Windows 98SE machine looking just like your Windows XP machine.
Posted 17 years ago # -
BillW50
MemberI am sure others have Aston Shell looking better (yes I have looked at all of the themes, but I still like this one the best!). But this is what mine looks like a few days later. I am sure I will improve it and I wouldn't mind to see others look like as well to give me some more ideas.
Posted 17 years ago # -
BillW50
MemberSorry to hear that terflip! :( I think it would have been helpful if they added warnings about some of the selections in the shell swapper. And I previously said I could select the shell swapper and a shell on the first screen. Now it doesn't work that way. And now I can only select one. It's a bit confusing. But it is indeed a learning experience for me. And so far it has been lots of fun. :)
Posted 17 years ago # -
BillW50
MemberHi inneedof1! Well I tried I don't know like 20 different themes from Aston's website and settled back with the default Aston 1.9.2 desktop. I did pick up one plug in called "Net Traffic indicator v. 1.2". And the background came from National Geographic's website. They have some wallpapers there.
Posted 17 years ago # -
Youngrob
MemberI have had a good experience with Aston. HOWEVER, I did an ADAWARE scan, it found a couple of things and when I booted my system had reverted back to my XP desktop. I clicked on the Aston and it was back to blue and beautiful again. I went back to ADAWARE again did another scan, found and deleted another object and yes you guessed it back to XP desktop. You draw your own conclusions. If you want to uninstall it I would certainly do an ADAWARE scan first. Youngrob
Posted 17 years ago # -
I don't suppose you know what the object or registry value that AdAware detected was?
It would certainly help in determining if it was of any consequence.
From your description - it sounds like AdAware simply found that you were using a non-standard shell and reset it back to the default - then Aston put it back again... just guessing though (I'm not running Aston).
Posted 17 years ago #
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