I ran the Purge bat file, as an admin. I told it to delete my prefernces when it asked as part of the uninstall. I then rebooted the machine.

After the reboot, I ran Regedit and searched for Fences. I found a bunch of items with "Fences3" in them. I did not delete them but I wonder if those leftovers could be a problem(?).

I then reinstalled Fences 4 and rebooted the machine again.

The problem is still happening. I try Windows + Space or Windows + Control + Space but the Fence(s) stay behind any other windows.

When I try Win-D or Win-Shift-D or Win-Space or Win-Cntl-Space the Fence title becomes non-opaque, like it is trying to work but it is still behind the other windows.

I'm running Windows 11 Version 10.0.22000 Build 22000

And Fences 4.0.0.3

OK. I turned off my Anti-Virus, I ran the purge script and it rebooted the machine.

After the reboot, I again turned off the AV and then installed Fences 4. I then rebooted and created a Fence. I did not change the purge script nor the install file.

I then tried Win-Space and Win-Cntl-Space.

Neither of them brought the Fence above an open window that was on top of them.

Any other ideas? Or any other information you would like me to provide?

Thank you very much.

Please try cleanboot as mention here : https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#cleanboot. Might be something is blocking it. Try it and report back.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Something went wrong in your main admin account. Try the "sfc /scannow" and if needed the "dism.exe /online/Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth"

For reference :

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

The only other steps I can think off is for you to move to your new admin account that is working or, which not everyone like to do, fresh install Windows 11.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

I'm not sure what you mean by enabling 3rd party apps\services because I can turn on all apps & services, and Fences' Peak will still work on the new admin account OR I can turn off all apps & services and Peak will still not work on my old admin account.

Note, when I disable all (non-Microsoft) services there are a few that System Config will not let me disable. I can't turn off: 3 of the AntiVirus Avast ("aswbIDAgent", "Avast Antivirus", and "AvastWscReporter"), and one other service: "Malwarebytes Service"). Then when I disable all Startups in the Task Manager I can't disable "Avast AvLaunch component". I tried disabling Avast for 1 hour after the reboot but it did not make a difference. Peak still always works on the new Admin account but not on the old one.

So it seems that enabling or disabling all apps and services does not affect either the old or new admin account. Peak always works in the new admin account but not in the old one.

I also tried running in Windows Safe Mode but I could not get Fences to run. It said it was not installed.

I looked at both entries in each account and compared all the properties. They seem to be exactly the same. I can post you a snapshot if you want.

I was thinking that maybe some other program was stealing the control keys from Fences but I can see the transparent Fences change to bold, i.e., without transparency, when I select the Win-Space keys. So the Fences program does receive the key sequence.  It is just that the Fences all stay behind the open windows. I also noticed the icons on the desktop do not disappear when the Win-Space is selected like they do in the new admin account where Peak does work.

Any idea on how to find the window setting you mentioned? What steps would I use to figure that out?

Thank you

I copied the VBS text from your link to a VBS file (ListHotKeys.vbs) and ran it. It brings up a pop-up window with no listings. I tried in on my account and on the clean admin account where the hotkey works but I still get no listing. I ran the hotkeys list from Nirsoft, as the bottom of the article suggested. It shows the hotkey is assigned but it does not tell me which program owns the hotkey.

Having said that I don't think this is the right investigation. I can tell that Fences is intercepting the Windows-Space hotkey because the transparent Fences become non-transparent when I press the Windows-Space keys. So Fences received the hotkey but it is not able to bring the Fences window to the top of the other windows (top of the Z list).

Everything happens the same when I run in the clean new admin account except that account is able to bring the Fences to the top of the other windows. I.e., the transparent Fences lose their transparency (showing they received the hotkey) but then they do pop their window to the top of the other.

So the big question is what is blocking the old admin account from bringing the Fence to the top of the other?

v/r

I still have the exact same problem (from the beginning of this thread). The Stardock tech support stopped answering my posts so I gave up in January. I've been hoping someone would eventually figure this out. I created a new admin account and everything works great. But I can't get my regular account to work with peak and I don't have the time to spend to move everything to a new account. Plus I'm worried something in the new account (from the old account) will break it and then I'll be back where I started after wasting many hours.

I gave up on this one and did not check back in since 2022. I now see the messages about turning on animations. I did that and SURPRISE Peek now works. It would have been nice if that had been explained in the version 4 instructions (now that we are up to version 6).