Conflicts with tools that move, on-top or modify other windows

Opus FAQs
1

Summary

Directory Opus may appear broken due to issues caused by other software which uses hooks to modify its windows and inject code into its process.

If you experience crashes when opening dialogs or the viewer, or issues like progress dialogs never appearing (when configured to), we recommend uninstalling any such tools to test if they are involved.

Tools which modify other software in this way will inherently have compatibility issues that need ironing out, and that means you should be weary of any which aren't updated regularly.

Exclusions

In some cases, adding an exclusion to the tools is enough to stop them affecting Directory Opus.

However, it's usually the case that their hooks are still installed and active inside our process; they just don't do as much when an exclusion is in place. In some cases, those hooks can still cause problems, and sometimes the only fix is to remove the conflicting tool entirely.

After adding an exclusion (or uninstalling a tool), we recommend rebooting in case the old configuration or DLL remain in memory.

Known conflicts

  • Actual File Folders
  • Actual Multiple Monitors
  • Actual Title Buttons
  • Actual Transparent Window
  • Actual Virtual Desktops
  • Actual Window Manager
  • Actual Window Minimizer
  • Actual Window Rollup
    • Can prevent progress dialogs appearing. See notes below. (Thread 1, Thread 2, Thread 3, Thread 4, Thread 5.)
    • Can cause Opus to steal focus after opening files. (Thread.)
    • Can cause context menus to move just after appearing. (Thread.)
    • Window gadgets they add draw on top of Opus's own UI elements.

  • FileBox eXtender
    • Can prevent progress dialogs appearing. See notes below. (Thread.)
    • Older versions broke toolbar editing. (Thread.)
    • Window gadgets it adds draw on top of Opus's own UI elements.
    • No longer updated by its developers, per their own statement.

  • MaxTo
  • RBTray
    • Can cause window to freeze after a dialog is shown. (Thread.)
    • Original project seems abandoned, although there are forks with more recent updates.

  • SplitView
    • Can prevent progress dialogs appearing. See notes below. (Thread.)
    • Can pop-up "Custom buttons error" out of nowhere. (Thread.)
    • Seems abandoned. (As of February 2024: Download link doesn't use HTTPS and so doesn't work with modern browsers. Latest download says it's from 2021 but the file it links to was signed in 2017.)

Notes on "Can prevent progress dialogs appearing"

  • We had occasional reports that some of the tools above prevented progress dialogs appearing in Directory Opus 12.

  • Changes in initial versions of Directory Opus 13 meant the problem would always be seen when certain tools were active and not configured to exclude Opus.

  • In Directory Opus 13.2.2 and above, we added a workaround which should make things OK again, or at least as good as they were in Opus 12. So you may be OK with those tools again, but please keep them in mind if you see anything unusual, including progress dialogs never appearing.

Notes on "Window gadgets draw on top of Opus's own UI elements"

  • This generally affects the Customize and Preferences buttons added to Lister titlebars when those dialogs are open.

  • Opus positions those buttons by asking Windows where the standard window buttons (min/max/close) are. Since the tools which add more buttons do not modify the API to reserve space, both things end up on top of each other.

  • They'll also put their buttons all over the window title text in a lot of situations (not specific to Opus).

  • Most of those tools let you configure them to exclude certain windows or processes. You can use that to make them avoid Opus.

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