The last few betas seem to have developed an odd conflict with Thunderbird (which is always running minimised), wherein when I would open Firefox from the Windows Taskbar (neither application was on the DF TB) Thunderbird would open to full-screen first, then Firefox over it.
After diligently checking for any possible malware infections (an honest enough first thought), I remembered seeing somewhere in the recent DF beta changelogs the option to have individual applications "not load" the DF hooks - and sure enough, taking the hooks away from Thunderbird solved the issue.
So my question is: What hooks am I removing by deselecting only this option, and what functionality might they represent? The DF window buttons continue to work fine (which is all that really matters to me, to be honest), but the option is a little vague as to what aspect of DF it's meant to rein in.
And strange that this only started happening under DF 3.4 beta 1 with Thunderbird, as it never caused this before. Would this be a possible side-effect of the equally vague "new experimental window switching method"?
Here's a list of things that will break for applications that have the (Captain ) hooks disabled:
- TitleBar Buttons: Will function normally, but updating will be slow
- Taskbar Buttons: Will function normally, but updating will be slow
- Window Snapping: Won't work at all
- Maximized Window Dragging: Won't work at all
- Middle-click Window Moving: Won't work at all
I'd like to do some testing on your issue as well. Just for clarification:
- You have Firefox and Thunderbird both running and minimized on the screen with the Windows taskbar
- You click the Firefox taskbar icon to open it, and Thunderbird first opens, then Firefox
Thanks for the info - perhaps a concise amalgamation of that list should be put in a tooltip for that option, just to let people know what might happen.
Quote:
Just for clarification:
- You have Firefox and Thunderbird both running and minimized on the screen with the Windows taskbar
- You click the Firefox taskbar icon to open it, and Thunderbird first opens, then Firefox
Actually this would only occur when Firefox was not running at all, and only Thunderbird was minimised - upon invoking FF (cold) only then would Thunderbird kick-in first (to maximise itself without invitation) for some reason.
I should mention this is under Win7 x64, with bog-standard x86 Thunderbird but an x64 variant Firefox (http://waterfoxproj.sourceforge.net/ - current 4.01, not a 5 beta).
And it only seemed to happen with Firefox, opening any other application wouldn't trigger it.
(I just tested it again by switching the hooks back on and restarting Thunderbird, and sure enough, the behaviour returned, so it definitely seems to be my issue.)
Awesome, I was able to confirm the issue on my machine by following your steps. We'll have a look and see if it's something we can fix in one of the next betas.
Have actually been using the 3rd beta for the last day or so, and indeed the issue seems to be fixed (I saw no mention in the changelog so I was beginning to think it was a fluke) - I thank you.
Odd that two (seemingly) unrelated processes conflicted (aside from Publisher's name) - I'll have to blame you lads more often for things that go bump in the night...
Hmm... it seems DF appears to be having a torrid romance going on with Thunderbird for some odd reason. As of DF Beta 6 if Thunderbird is minimised in the taskbar, when DF starts up it temporarily opens the aeropeek preview window for the Thunderbird instance, then closes it again. The application remains minimised - only the preview pops up for no apparent reason. (Behaviour survives a system restart.)
There are no compatibility rules set for Thunderbird, and this did not happen in Beta 5.
It's pinned on the native Win7 taskbar, and is always running minimised. I had noticed that the "fix" of the original issue that was applied in Beta 3 did cause a brief highlight of the Thunderbird taskbar icon, but that was all - no preview window, nothing else - just a brief flash (not even a hint of a window) as if one were hovering the cursor over it for a millisecond. This slight behaviour persisted through beta's 4 and 5 until 6 brought about this more overt example.
For all that though, this "quirk" is far less bothersome than the original issue, so I can't complain - but it would seem directly related to the original fix, whatever it was. It involves no other applications (Firefox is not in use), and - as I said - it happens reliably when DF first starts up. If DF is exited and restarted, the preview window pops up on cue and disappears after a few seconds. In the pantheon of evils (lack of toilet roll, in-laws, and burnt dinner), this is not a significant issue as it only "realistically" happens upon initial system startup (repeatedly stopping and restarting DF throughout the day is not as amusing as one would think, as it turns out ).
I just thought I'd mention it. (I did try disabling the hooks again, etc, but I can't seem to influence the outcome.)
Is Thunderbird the left-most application on your taskbar? I couldn't make it happen until I moved it all the way to the left. However, it seems to happen with any application. If the left most application on the taskbar is running, the preview pops up when DisplayFusion launches.
Seems you successfully squashed the gremlin - thanks again!
(Hmm... new Forums... what good is having a widescreen monitor if you render half the page as whitespace and limit the text to the centre? 4:3 died some years ago... Somewhat ironic for an LCD-driven forum, no?)
Valid point about the forums as well, however, we've found that posts are easier to read when they're not spanned all the way across a very wide screen. We'll keep it in mind though as we are still collecting feedback on the new forums.
) hooks disabled: 
