Save As / Notepad and others

[edee2]

Maybe someone here can address this problem, been having it ever since Windows 8 / 8.1 has come out. Look at the screen shots below, the top pictures are before and the bottoms are after. When I boot Windows the theme colors are all fine, but if I use the lock screen or screensaver on my system when it comes out of the lock screen or screen saver I start getting these white areas in places like the Save As dialogue box, Notepad, Windows Personalization and I am sure there are other places that I cannot think of right at the moment.

WHAT is causing this and how can it be stopped from happening?
Please do not tell me the obvious like not to use the lock screen or screensaver, I am looking for the fix to correct this because this does not happen in Windows 7, only 8 or 8.1

I am running Windows 8.1 Pro x64 (the problem exists on my Windows 8.1 Core x64 machine also)
Both machines run AeroGlass, OldNewExplorer, UltraUXThemepatcher and Ribbon Disabler.  All are the most up to date versions.

[JMB]

Man, that looks like a bug with OldNewExplorer to me...
Consider leaving a comment to Tihiy (OldNewExplorer developer) here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/170375-oldnewexplorer-make-your-81-explorer-work-like-win78-one/

...Or UltraUX might be causing the issue. Imho that patcher has some serious flaws. Because it actually modifies system-files, which can lead to issues in 8+...most notably black-screen (failure to boot) due to some patched file not playing nice with some Windows updates.

You should consider switching to UXTheme Multi-Patcher, which runs as a service (as memory-patching) and doesn't actually touch your system-files. Get the newest version here: http://www.windowsxlive.net/uxtheme-multi-patcher/
The only issue I personally have ever had with Multi-Patcher is the service failing to load (or reload) after switching themes, on occasion. Which is fixed by restarting the computer. And it doesn't happen often.

* Also, if you un-install UltraUX, you might want to follow this guide:

1. Restore to the default Windows theme.
2. Uninstall UltraUXThemePatcher and let it restore the patched dll files back, don't restart your computer.
3. Delete any custom theme you have installed from Windows\Resources\Themes folder
4. Open regedit and search for ThemeManager key entry, look at the value of DLLName it should be %SystemRoot%\resources\themes\Aero\Aero.msstyles - if not change it back.
5. Go to Windows\System32 folder and rename the files uxtheme.dll, themeui.dll, UXinit.dll to whatever you want. Do the same in the SysWOW64 folder if you have a 64 bit OS (i did it just in case).
6. Replace those files you renamed with fresh ones from a clean installation of the same Windows version of yours, like from a second Win 8.1 machine.
7. Go ahead and restart your computer.
8. Stay away from UltraUXThemePatcher in the future.

The reason you need to do all this is because the backups that UltraUX makes of the system-files it modified/replaced (uxtheme.dll, themeui.dll, UXinit.dll) are corrupted.
I know from EXPERIENCE that UltraUX is not a good patcher for 8.1. Unless they've radically updated the coding. I don't know, haven't used it in a loooong time. Learned my lesson!   Memory-patching is the way to go in 8+.

[Mr GRiM]

Windows 8 loads defaults from [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\DefaultColors] after every lock/sleep/hibernate.

Make a backup of that key, take ownership of it, and then delete that whole key (defualtcolors).

Then you wont have a problem.

[JMB]

Windows 8 loads defaults from [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\DefaultColors] after every lock/sleep/hibernate.

Make a backup of that key, take ownership of it, and then delete that whole key (defualtcolors).

Then you wont have a problem.

Hmm. In all the time that I was running 8.1, I never had that issue happen to me, and I always used dark vs. Oh well, guess I was lucky!

edee2, I'd still be wary of UltraUX. It may not be causing the issue, but it's a time-bomb in your current setup that may explode later....

Thanks for helping this guy, Grim.  

[Mr GRiM]

I never have the problem as I always do a complete shutdown every night, the problem was discovered by a guy on Devianart using my HUD theme and he also provided the solution and I tested and found out he was correct, I agree with you though about using UltraUX or anything that modifies system files to run custom themes on Windows 8, as we all know there is no fallback like on Windows 7 where it would use a basic theme if patched files were replaced in a windows update, instead you are left with the black screen bug in Windows 8, I personally have been using UxStyle http://uxstyle.com since is was first made available on windows 8 and have never had a problem as it runs as a service which sounds the same as the UxTheme multi-patcher you recommended.

[edee2]

Windows 8 loads defaults from [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\DefaultColors] after every lock/sleep/hibernate.

Make a backup of that key, take ownership of it, and then delete that whole key (defualtcolors).

Then you wont have a problem.

Thanks Mr. Grim, that has taken care of the problem,, only wish I knew about this way back when!

As for UltraUXTheme Patcher ..... I found out the hard way about it when the first time I tried to uninstall it and got a black screen, nothing on the developers site worked, then found something that told me to make registry changes and copy original .dll's from another Windows 8 system the same as mine, I did it and it worked and the next time I just made copies of the .dll files on my system after a clean install. But I have since dumped Ultra after finding out that UXTheme is being developed by another company and is up to version 13.1 which you can read about and download here :http://www.windowsxlive.net/uxtheme-multi-patcher/ at least it only runs in memory and makes no permanent changes, seems to do the job and will even offer to add the aero effect if you don't use AeroGlass which I do so I did not check to see if the option works.

I wish it was like the Windows 7 days were you didn't have run all this extra junk to get a theme to work.

[JMB]

I never have the problem as I always do a complete shutdown every night, the problem was discovered by a guy on Devianart using my HUD theme and he also provided the solution and I tested and found out he was correct, I agree with you though about using UltraUX or anything that modifies system files to run custom themes on Windows 8, as we all know there is no fallback like on Windows 7 where it would use a basic theme if patched files were replaced in a windows update, instead you are left with the black screen bug in Windows 8, I personally have been using UxStyle http://uxstyle.com since is was first made available on windows 8 and have never had a problem as it runs as a service which sounds the same as the UxTheme multi-patcher you recommended.

Well I am definitely glad to know about the fix, even though I'm not on 8.1 atm. Maybe the issue did happen to me, I just didn't notice, because I did lock my screen and put it in sleep mode occasionally. I restart and shutdown often too, which temporarily "fixes" the issue...so I probably didn't notice.

Multi-Patcher is great because it's "one patcher to patch them all".....Works on almost everything (from XP to 10TP) by MS. Exactly like UxStyle, though, in that it patches memory only.

edee2, glad you're squared away now bud.    No more UltraUX for you, right? Good thinking!    And as far as having to run a bunch of extra crap to patch/modify/tweak Windows 8+, it will only get WORSE in the future as MS totally locks down their post-8 o.s. platforms....The not-too-distant-future looks pretty bleak for serious customization in Windows. Soon, people will have to 'jailbreak' Windows o.s. even to do the simplest things. And that's only the beginning.

[edee2]

Well I am definitely glad to know about the fix, even though I'm not on 8.1 atm. Maybe the issue did happen to me, I just didn't notice, because I did lock my screen and put it in sleep mode occasionally. I restart and shutdown often too, which temporarily "fixes" the issue...so I probably didn't notice.

Multi-Patcher is great because it's "one patcher to patch them all".....Works on almost everything (from XP to 10TP) by MS. Exactly like UxStyle, though, in that it patches memory only.

edee2, glad you're squared away now bud.    No more UltraUX for you, right? Good thinking!    And as far as having to run a bunch of extra crap to patch/modify/tweak Windows 8+, it will only get WORSE in the future as MS totally locks down their post-8 o.s. platforms....The not-too-distant-future looks pretty bleak for serious customization in Windows. Soon, people will have to 'jailbreak' Windows o.s. even to do the simplest things. And that's only the beginning.

That's why Universal Theme Patcher was so great on Windows 7, patched 3 dll's and you were good to go, you knew what it was patching, these other UX patcher's I don't really trust because you really don't know what else it is doing besides patching for third party themes. And these UX patchers seem to get passed around from coder to coder because no one keeps them up to date, I mean go to the original UxStyle site and you'll still see the download "possibly bugged" still there and has not been worked on since Windows 8 came out.

When it gets to the point where you have to jailbreak your system to do anything with it or I have to use a "cloud" os that's when I'll stop upgrading and fall back to the next best os, I've got oem versions of everything from Windows 98 on up and I don't do anything that drastic online where I will have to depend on MS to provide patches and / or updates for the os. I have never been able to run the vanilla version of Windows, I've been running some sort of theme or UI modification since Windows 98, remember the Plus! pack you could download and get a bunch of different themes for Windows?, Microsoft really needs to hire some talented themers and dump the untalented UI designers they currently employ.

I'm just glad I finally found out what was up with the white areas, I was starting to drive me batsh!t crazy  , probably would not have happened if I just disabled or not used the lock screen but from time to time it does have it's uses but next time I know if I have to do a clean install, thanks again Mr. Grim