StartOrbz by Blizo

Release History

March 11, 2010
RTP version 1.0a
-Fixed x64 issues. You can now apply orbs without problems.
-Better explorer handling, like closing and restarting explorer.
-Added more error handling to avoid unforseen issues.
-Changed and recoded the creator portion from scratch to allow more image effects to be added. Like orb opacity, emboss, bevel, create orb buttons.
-Removed .StartOrb format. You can now import/export native png images.
-When exporting you can select bmp from the drop down list. This will create 4 bmp images to use outside of StartOrbz.
-Added ability to apply legacy orbs like W7SBC does.
-Fixed various bugs.
-Added Taskdialogs instead of old messageboxes. Thanks dmex!
-Changed some options to take advantage of windows 7 features.
-Home page only shown when no orbs are found.
-Changed background to blue. This indicates a public release. Maroon was for beta builds.
-Removed option to use legacy orbs to create new orbs. The results were flakey so it was yanked.
-Added ability to detect if explorer has been updated by ms. If it has, then a new backup is created and the old one renamed.
-Added some url links that point to sevenforums, iconfinder.net and the startorbz page at deviant.
-Changed startorbz logo. This can change again at any time.
-Fixed star ratings. They now update each you time you apply the orb.

Feb24,2010
Beta Release Build 022410a:
-Fixed an obfuscation issue which prevented applying and exporting orbs.

Feb24,2010
Beta Release Build 022310:
-Fixed text that displays counted orbs. It Was not updating when adding or deleting orbs.
-Fixed error when deleting the last orb available. Now it fades back to the home page.
-Added a file check to see if the user has a backup created by W7SBC. If so StartOrbz uses that to create its own backup. This prevents StartOrbz from creating a backup from a possibly modified file.
-Added code to let the user choose if he/she would like to create a system restore point. It takes a few moments to do it but it only does it once. This is a saftey precaution.
-Added ability to export unpackaged orbs (.png file) as well as packaged(.StartOrb file).
-Added hotkey Alt+B to browse the StartOrbz orb folder.
-Added scrollbars to orb effects so user can scroll in the value instead of manually typing it in. This prevents any user input errors.
-Added ability to change the normal/hover/pressed image backgrounds to checkered, black or white. This was a user request.
-Recoded terminate/restart explorer. Should work 100% of the time. User can use hotkey Alt+X to restart explorer if needed.
-Added settings page to StartOrbz: Now you can save the default users name. Turn off the background animation. Select how to export the start orbs. and Finally the ability to restore explorer.exe back to its original state.
-Added ability to import the old orbs into the CREATOR. Basicly you still create a new orb set but you use the old style orb as its image set.
-Fixed UAC issue. No longer need to right click and "run as administrator".
-Fixed other little odds and ends.


Feb23,2010
Alpha Release:
-Perfect alpha bitmaps created!
-Orbs are resized to the proper deminsions required by explorer. 4 total
-Orb bio info like artist name and orb title are embedded into the images. This cannot be edited. I want all artists to get credit.
-Import/Export Orb sets. Sorry but all the start orbs floating around right now will not work with StartOrbz. There are simply too many badly created orbs out there. Too many "tricks" to make a bitmap with alpha channels. There is no need for any of that now. I thought long and hard about blocking out the old orbs. I simply had to do it in order to create a "standard". The original authors can redo them in seconds and redeploy them to everyone.
-Rating system. The more you apply an orb, the higher it gets rated. This is not changable by the user.
-Catergory system. This was created so users can easily manage there orbs and also make it easier to know what kinda orb your downloading...like those cool flag orbs! 