The black outline is the transparent part of the image -- I wonder if the images became corrupted somehow, or a radio button in Skin Studio became unchecked so Windowblinds is reading a .tga image as a .bmp image.  Have you tried deleting a skin and then re-downloading it to see if a fresh install of the skin will fix it?

I deleted the skin in my example (Tinted) and reinstalled it - but it looks exactly the same. Also, I just noticed that my thumbnails are not just text without a picture.

I guess I'll have to reinstall Windowblinds. When you uninstall and reinstall it, do you lose your skins?

Thanks!

That looks similar to what you get with:

A: Vista Home Basic

B: Having an unknown WEI.

C: Having an Experience Index under 2.0

Have you run the WEI lately(you should),or changed any hardware/drivers?

karmat: I had a very similar problem until I:

1. Saved the Aero Theme (assuming you have both MyColors and WB installed and are on Vista).

2. Then uninstalled MyColors and WB (in Impulse). Rebooted.

3. Reinstalled WB7. Rebooted. Didn't reinstall MyColors.

I could never get MyColors and WB6 or 7 to play nicely together. See if this resolves your issue.

If you decide you want MyColors, do the following:

1. Uninstall WB7 in Impulse, and reboot.

2. INSTALL MyColors first. Reboot.

3. Then INSTALL WB7 and reboot.

Maybe you'll be able to get them to work together. I never did.

ALSO:

When updating or verifying installation, do MyColors first. Then close Impulse and reopen it to update WB.

It's a screwy Impulse bug they've never solved.

Good Luck!

A: I'm on Windows 7 Home Premium, brand new laptop

B: I guess I'm still a newb, cause I don't know what WEI is! I went from XP on my old laptop to Win7 and have never had Vista

C: Experience Index is 4.9%

I think it might have something to do with my earlier problem when I went into the 'Personalize' window and it screwed up my browser windows after changing skins in Windowblinds without going back to W7 default first.

Sorry, Wizard, I just figures out WEI is - Windows Experience Index, doh!

Since I had a new laptop, all my Stardock software was freshly installed through Impulse.  I didn't install My Colours cause I never use it.

Thanks for trying, guys. I guess I'll have to email support or uninstall Windowblinds and reinstall it --- unless there's a mod out there that sees this before tonight and knows how to fix this (please !).

Karmat:

Have you tried applying the regular Win7 Aero style? If so, what result do you get? Transparency or not?

If you have not tried this, please do so.

If you don't get transparency, then right-click on the desktop, choose "Personalize," then click on "Window Color" at the bottom of the screen. Make sure that the "Enable Transparency" checkbox is checked.

Then try loading a WB again. See if that helps!

Mirsguy gave good advice, and since you don't have MC installed, I'd bet that would be the issue, unless it's a borked install. You can tell if it's that by opening Impulse to My Software and right clicking on WB and choosing "Verify Installation".

Make sure under "Preferences" in the blue left upper button "Prerelease Versions" is checked.

Thanks Mirsguy! That fixed it. I guess it depends on if you load default from Windowblinds first before you go into Personalize and vice-versa.

Man, that was two major snaffs from just going into Personalize one time. Never again for me.

Thanks so much everyone!

 for Mirsguy

Depends on what order you do it. I use personalize to change walls. No probs. Just remember to revert back to the default win7 theme before loading a windowblind, and remember to set windowblinds back to Win 7 Aero before applying a win7 theme thru personalize. Use personalize to change walls anytime. No problems should arise from these scenarios. It's all about the order in which you do it.

Yup, you're right, I definitely won't do it again! But since I use FastStone Image Viewer (It's a great free program, check it out http://www.faststone.org/) to change walls, it's not likely that I'll go to that 'place' again!

I sometimes use Wallpaper Xchange. Made by the same peeps that make Sysmetrix, I think.   Find it here.

http://www.xymantix.com/programs/wallpaper_xchange.html