Will there ever be a solution to Fences running so slow?!!?

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. First, I don't see your "slow" issue on all my systems with Fences. Need to know more on your system. Please refer here https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1387954197/Contacting+Stardock+About+Fences+Issues also please post a video of this slowness you experiencing.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

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There are a large number of posts on this problem but no resolution. I made a video but can't post it because it shows parts of my desktop I do not want to show. I can tell you that if I copy a file or shortcut on the desktop and click to paste it it takes 6-7 second to appear. Same is true with deleting a desktop item.

I will say that, I purged Fences 4 and rebooted. The speed of those operation was faster but not significantly. I do not ever recall basic Windows 10 being this slow. Note: when I did the purge (as Admin) there were multiple errors. I wonder if some remnants of Fences are still there.

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More on this...

I did a full registry scan for "Stardock" after a purge and there were MANY hits, i.e, 116 for Stardock. This says the so called "purge" isn't working.

I sorted thru and deleted anything I could. Many of the Stardock entries had permission restrictions which I had to override. That is probably the cause of the errors during the purge.

Now I would say desktop operations are taking about 3 seconds which is a 2X improvement over when the remnants of Fences were sill remaining after the purge. This includes simply moving an icon from one place to another.

I think Stardock has some work to do on:

- The performance issues (that *many* users are experiencing)

- The ineffectiveness of the Purge.

Note: I would easily have upgraded to Fences version 5 if the performance issues were resolved. They were not when I tested so I (along with other) am looking for a Fences alternative!

PS It would be good if anyone having issues, posts replies to this post. Maybe then, Stardock will focus on the problem as opposed to saying " it works for me".

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Would also help if you post those "similar issues" as yours links here. So I can check up on them and see the better picture.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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https://forums.stardock.com/search;Slow/user;-1/category;501/post;-1/date;all/sortby;relevance;desc/tags;null

https://www.google.com/search?q=Slow+Fences+software&oq=Slow+Fences+software&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDY4NzFqMGoxqAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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Generally those are about a different issue caused by Microsoft forcing third party programs to load after the boot sequence has completed...so Fences was forced to wait and thus forced to not show the desktop icons at the time when the normal sequence would.

The "impression" was the boot sequence was slowed...and yes it was... by 0.2 of a second.

The only difference was the icons showed later in the sequence.

This is not the same 'slow down' you are seeing.

When the vast majority of users have no issue it's necessary for people who do see a problem to detail OS versions...'problem' program versions...and anything potentially related that may be a conflict...prime suspect is always security software when one is using shell modification software such as Stardock's....

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I checked those Stardock thread listed on your search result. Sort by date.

Slow load on boot. Asked for more information, no respond, no conclusive issue.
Fences v2 to v4 upgrade question. Issue resolved.
Issue resolved unknown. Most probably because using very old Windows 10. Updates Windows 10 might have resolve it.

Only 3 slow issues from 2023-present.

Moving forward, I interested to know more on your slowness issue. Please post a video on your issue.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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As I mentioned it is difficult to provide a video. I will do more test and see what I can do.

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As much as I love Fences and use it for a few years already, similarly as atestani2 it runs so slow that using it is really a pain.
I shared that once already two years ago with the support.

Here is all info I can share about the issue so far:
- Happens for at least two years
- Windows 10 up-to-date
- GeForce 3700 drivers up-to-date
- A drag and drop operation of any icon on desktop takes 6 sec before it even starts moving (and very laggy during movement)
- Ryzen 5800x - 128Gb DRAM - M2 drives
- Computer runs very fast beside that

What might be a bit specific to test:
- Running with 2x 4K screen
- Having probably 20+ fences and 300 icons (I know...). But had intense slow down already with half of that.
- No security tool / antivirus.. beside Windows Defender

I'm fully available to help nailing down this issue if more tests need to be done.

It would change my life if this would finally be fixed.. me too I had hoped for a future version to fix the issue and would definitely upgrade.
I could take a video but you would just see 2x 4K screen and a drag operation takes 6 sec before the icon actually moves or lands to the drop destination.

Additional info
- While disabling Fences (but not unistalling) I also experience some 5 sec lag when drag&dropping icons on the desktop.

Searched further and found out that Windows is super slow to handle a lot of icons on the Desktop. With 1000 icons and drag and drop becomes slow even without Fences. Looks like disabling auto-arrange and align options in the desktop view of Windows helps a bit.
Actually we could say that 1000 icons on Desktop is a bad practice anyway, but having 2x 4K and Fences encourages a bit to have a lot of different context open on your Desktops (to read, to learn music, for programming, for entertainment, etc.).

Solution Found
So now, to reduce the number of icons that Windows has to handle on the desktop, I tried now to use a lot more the Folder Portal feature from Fences so that files and links are hosted in other folder and not considered by Windows. As a result I'm down from 6s systematic 6s lags to only 1 or 2s, which is a lot more comfortable.

Maybe at Stardock you could investigate if when enabling fences, there is no way to get around the overhead of Windows handling a big number of icons/links/app. Maybe there are some options to bypass windows arrangment of icons and handle that by Fence directly. Folder Portal are fast but they don't rely on Windows arranging icons. Maybe also some Windows extension are slowing down those desktop drag and drops on Windows, but I have no further information on that. Maybe also fully uninstalling Fences like atestani2 did would also accelerate drag and drops on Desktop when Fences is disabled.

Could be interesting to know if atestani2 is in the same situation with lots of icons on the desktop and costing already when Fences is disabled.

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I am running on Windows 10 Pro with a dual monitor system with a NVIDIA Geoforce display adapter. I have about 220 icons split roughly between the 2 monitors. There are 6 standard fences on the left monitor and 8 roll-up fences on the right. There about 30 icons/files that are not in fences. I put those icons/files in 2 fences, one on each monitor, but the slowness issue doesn't change.

I have been asked to make a video which I have said I cannot do, but this is very simple. Just delete any icon and immediately single-click another icon.... then wait 5-7 seconds for the clicked icon to highlight/gain focus.

The same slow operation is there whether Fences are enabled or not. The only way I get the performance that should be there is to uninstall Fences completely. I think I had to go into the Registry and clean up the remnants of an incomplete uninstall. (I can't recall since it has been almost a year since my original post and testing and one Stardock response saying basically "it works for me" and to make a video)

Thanks for the tip on Folder Portals which I will try. However, this is clearly a large flaw in Fences and needs to be fixed!

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Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Need to know more on your current system.

Windows full version and OS Build number. Please use Winver.exe.
Fences full version number.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

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Windows 10 Pro - Build 19045.5371

Fences v4.22 (Tried v5 but no help to problem)

Processor: AMD A10-6800K APU 4.10 GHz, Memory: 24GB

Dual Monitors with NVIDIA GeoForce 9500GT (Driver version: 21.21.13.4201 - latest)

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Have any of you try the solution that was done by other user as mention in this thread? : https://forums.stardock.com/490929/get;3745196 (Reply#11&#13). The setting might be a little different than current Nvidia contol panel, but it should still be there. I am on AMD card, so I cannot check on my system. Reply#16 suggest something more recent.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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Quoting basj,

reply 13

Have any of you try the solution that was done by other user as mention in this thread? : https://forums.stardock.com/490929/get;3745196 (Reply#11&#13). The setting might be a little different than current Nvidia contol panel, but it should still be there. I am on AMD card, so I cannot check on my system. Reply#16 suggest something more recent.

Thanks for the info. I opened NVidia control panel but I cannot find any of the settings to change. I am running v342.01 of Nvidia CP. Maybe it is an old version. I will investigate and get back to you.

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Quoting atestani2,

reply 14

Thanks for the info. I opened NVidia control panel but I cannot find any of the settings to change. I am running v7.8.840.0 of Nvidia CP.

That seems to be an old version of the control panel. The version I have installed was released in December and is version 8.1.967.0, so are you sure you have the latest drivers?

The settings mentioned above is not in the nVidia control panel btw, but was in the nVidia Experience settings. nVidia Experience was replaced by an app just called NVIDIA with the latest update and look like this:

+1

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Quoting Jan Oscar,

reply 15

That seems to be an old version of the control panel. The version I have installed was released in December and is version 8.1.967.0, so are you sure you have the latest drivers?

The settings mentioned above is not in the nVidia control panel btw, but was in the nVidia Experience settings. nVidia Experience was replaced by an app just called NVIDIA with the latest update and look like this:

Thanks for this. Yes, I have the latest drivers (v342.01)

I installed a version of the "Nvidia App" (aka GeForce Experience) for my of GeForce 9500 GT display adapter. No settings of interest in there. I think I may need to get a new display adapter.

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Quoting atestani2,

reply 16

I think I may need to get a new display adapter.

I can't guarantee that will solve your issue, but it's more than likely. The GeForce 9500GT was after all released in 2008, and the latest driver seems to be quite old.

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Quoting Jan Oscar,

reply 17

I can't guarantee that will solve your issue, but it's more than likely. The GeForce 9500GT was after all released in 2008, and the latest driver seems to be quite old.

I have an MSI GTX 1050 Ti display adapter card on order. I'll post results when it is installed.

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Quoting atestani2,

reply 18

I have an MSI GTX 1050 Ti display adapter card on order. I'll post results when it is installed.

Please do! Let's hope that solve this.

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Quoting atestani2,

reply 18

I have an MSI GTX 1050 Ti display adapter card on order. I'll post results when it is installed.

OK.. I have the new MSI GTX 1050 Ti installed and set up. The desktop is still slow but it is improved. Now takes 3-4 seconds vs 6-7 seconds to do anything (e.g. move an icon). I turned off the overlay in the Nvidia app and it didn't change, In another thread there is a tip using the NVidia Control Panel under 3D settings to choose the preferred graphics processor. There is no such entry.

So I spent over $200 but reduced the slow fences by ~3 seconds. There is still something wrong with Fences!!!

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Would like to suggest, if you have Windows Pro, please try testing it in Windows Sandbox and see if you still seeing the slow respond issue. Refer here for guide on how to do it: https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1416560645/Testing+Fences+in+Sandbox

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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Quoting basj,

reply 21

Would like to suggest, if you have Windows Pro, please try testing it in Windows Sandbox and see if you still seeing the slow respond issue. Refer here for guide on how to do it: https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1416560645/Testing+Fences+in+Sandbox

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Thanks for the suggestion but this seems like a large job and I worry that my fence setup, etc. will be destroyed. I have not been too successful with taking and restoring snapshots.

Let's say that in the sandbox, the problem with the very slow response disappears, what would I do next?

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Quoting atestani2,

reply 22

Thanks for the suggestion but this seems like a large job and I worry that my fence setup, etc. will be destroyed. I have not been too successful with taking and restoring snapshots.

Let's say that in the sandbox, the problem with the very slow response disappears, what would I do next?

Your current setting will not be touch when you do the test in Window Sandbox. A sandbox is just like another Virtual system with fresh Windows in it. It will not effect your current system at all. If the issue do not appear in the Sandbox, that show that Fences is working in your system, just that something in your current system is causing the issue to appear. It might be compatibility issue with another software installed in your system. Or there might be corrupted system.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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