Aero Thumbnails do not always show up

[Tenacity]

Aero is working ok on my machine, but sometimes (particularly in Word and
Excel, but also other programs) the thumbnail view of the actual screen does
not show up. Instead, only the Icon for the program shows.

If I have, say, 7 windows open, this will only be a problem for, say, 3
windows while the others show fine.

Any idea what is the cause of this and any fixes? Thanks.

[Adam Albright]

My highly technical conclusion is...

Windows is just dumb.

Here's another example for the peanut galley to whine about.

I go to a folder where I have exclusively finished DVD files waiting
to be burned to discs. All are in standard MPEG-2 format. A total of
28 files taking up a little over 18 GB. I have Explorer's view set to
show LARGE icons.

Now watch how utterly stupid Explorer can be. I took out the old
stopwatch. It took Explorer 2 minutes 18 seconds to "refresh" this
folder. Out of the 28 files it was able to actually show a thumbnail
for 15, or just over half. The others only show the MPEG icon.

Now for the smartass crowd, PAY ATTENTION, you may learn something. I
just got done opening each of the 28 files with Media Player being
able to play each. Since any application has to open a file in order
to create a thumbnail, the first question is since Media Player can
play each of these files and according must have found an appropriate
codec, why in the hell can't Explorer open 13 of these files to create
a thumbnail if it can open the same file to actually play the video?

Well like I said, Windows is dumb. Here's proof.

I fire up another viewer called XnView that like Explorer can create
thumbnails on the fly. I go to the same folder. Refresh time is under
a second, way faster then Explorer's 2 minutes and 18 seconds and then
failing to create half of the thumbnails. With XnView I see all 28
thumbnails, and see them instantly, all files again start up and play
correctly.

Now lets go a step further, how DUMB is Explorer really?

You have to ask?

Lets give Explorer a harder test. I added a video file again in MPEG-2
format where I deliberately corrupted the file header. Because of the
file name this file will appear in the sixth position if the sort is
alpha.

Lets see what happens now, well you guessed it. Explorer again needed
to refresh its database of thumbnails and took another couple minutes.
Dumb. It manages to open the first file showing a thumbnail, tries but
fails to create thumbnails for the next two files, opens the next two.
Look out Windows, here comes the corrupt file... what will you do?

You known damn well what Windows will do. It stalls, shortly after it
brings up the all too common Windows Explorer encountered a unknown
problem and needs to close error, do you want to tell Microsoft about
it line of crap. Score as a FAILURE. Windows Explorer lacks basic
intelligence, freaks if it hits a corrupt file, only way out is for it
to crash and burn.

Now lets try again using XnView. Again, no refresh time but, oops,
there seems to be a problem. The first five thumbnails are there but
XnView in now trying to open my test corrupt file. Can it? No. The
seconds are clicking by. A total of 22 seconds. However instead of
crashing guess what happens next? It simply skips over the "corrupt"
file and goes on to make the remaining thumbnails as if nothing
happened. This is SMART software, Igor, it can think, well sort of.
;-)

Now lets have some more fun with Media Player. I open a MPEG-2 file at
random and let it start to play. I click on the repeat button and push
the scrubber almost all the way to the right to see how Media Player
handles it.

Oops... Media Player starts to replay the file, but this time it is
totally distorted and completely unviewable and has turned into a
quivering mass of artifacts and wavey lines. Another Windows failure.
Somebody please explain how any application, even something as dumb as
Media Player can play a file perfectly the first time, then repeat and
totally screw it up. I'm all ears. Somebody tell me.

Will XnView do any better? What do you think? Of course it will. It
played the file repeatedly with problem, I even on the fly could stop
it, reverse it, change the speed, go to slow motion, go faster up to
10x, resize the window is was playing it, whatever I wanted to do.

Why can't Microsoft, the world's largest software developer get its
act together?

Operator error, yet again.

The idiot has misconfigured his machine again.

The real idiot is the damn fool you see staring back at you from the
mirror in the morning. You want me to kick you ass three days in a row
punk?

[Qu0ll]

I also experience this. I have determined that in my case it only happens
after switching between Aero and standard and back again (which happens
every time I run my DVICO FusionHDTV application). I assume it is a bug as
there is no logic as to why it should behave in this manner.

[Tenacity]

Are there any Vista MVPs or MSFT people operational yet who monitor these
discussion groups and try to help with these issues. Or are we "early
adopters" just out in the wilderness struggling to help each other with
little support?

If there are any MVPs or MSFT readers, please try to answer my Original
Posting. Even if to say that this is a bug and it is (hopefully) being
reported by you to MSFT. Thanks.

[Frank]

So do 4 windows always show just fine even if your have any number from
5 or more open at one time?
I do believe (not really sure though) that there is a register setting
that sets the number that will show with the rest being thumbnails.

[Tenacity]

I haven't noticed any numerical pattern. Right now, I have 20 windows open.
15 of them show fine. All 4 Excel windows plus one non-MSFT program show
program Icons only. Excel is a particular offender. Seems more like a
Microsoft bug than a setting, but on the other hand you might be correct.

If there were anybody from MSFT out there, or an MVP, perhaps light could be
shed.

[Frank]

Have you tried closing one Excel window at a time to see if it makes any
difference? What pattern (if any) do you see with the number of Excels
open before things go downhill?

Aero thumbnails do not show up at all in vista64. I have noticed that the
file explorer in windows office 2007 and adobe acrobat 8 render the
thumbnails and once rendered show up correctly in vista 65 file explorer

[Frank]

Ok, I think there is definitely a bug with flip 3d and Excel. I'm using
Office 2007's Excel and as soon as I open more than one Excel file only
one will show in 3d, the others show an Excel thumbnail. However, the
other files that are open are all ok.

[Tenacity]

Agreed. Bug seems to be with Excel, but also a few non-MSFT programs I have.

Now if only MS were monitoring this forum like they do in XP, maybe this
could be added to the Fix list.

Which ones (non-MSFT programs)?

[Tenacity]

Just out of curiosity, are you working on a fix for this, compiling a list
to sent to MSFT, or are you just curious? Or maybe you work for MSFT but
that is not in your username?

Not trying to scare you off, but I'm just wondering because it would be nice
to know if our correspondence is going to lead to a fix in a short period of
time. Anyway, it's nice going over this problem with you. Thanks.

[Frank]

I don't work for MSFT and I'm not an MVP. I'm just another Vista user
trying to be helpful if I can.
On this issue I'm trying to identify if the problem lies with Vista or
Excel and it's a little difficult because 3d flip is new and not in
previous Windows releases. However, I am able to duplicate it in Vista
x32 & x64.
I've posted this issue in the Excel ng (suggest you do the same) and
have yet to get a response.
I'm leaning towards it being an Excel issue because of the way Excel
opens files.
This weekend I'll try and go deeper into the issue and if I come to any
definitive conclusion(s) I'll post back and file bug report to MS.

[Jeeslawees]

I am also new to Vista and so far, I like the new Vista. In particular, I
think the Aero feature in Vista is one of the best things to happen to
Windows in a long time.

However, I too am experiencing the same Aero display problem. But for me,
at least so far, it only seems to be a problem with Excel files. If I only
have ONE Excel file open it displays in the thumbnail and the flip3d just
fine. If I open a SECOND Excel file, then it AND the originally opened file
will only show as icons in the thumbnails and flip3d.

I have not experienced this with any other program files, Microsoft or not.
I can have I'm notmultiple files open for a single program OR multiple files
open within multiple programs and ALL the thumbnails and flip3d for ALL those
files in ALL those programs show just fine. Excel seems to be the only
exception ..... so far!

One last note. When opening a 2nd, 3rd, etc. Excel file the thumbnail and
flip3d "icon switch" ONLY OCCURS in the Excel files ..... all other program
files remain stable and present properly in the thumbnails and flip3d.

I'm not a PC Wiz or Techie, but my conclusion: It is an Excel interface
issue with the Aero feature of Vista. And I agree with Tenacity .... we can
only hope the Microsoft wizards are out there and listening.

[DowntownScience]

Seeing the same thing. First spreadsheet opens fine. Second spreadsheet turns areo peek into icons. Closing the second spreadsheet doesn't fix the problem. I have to close Excel and relaunch a spreadhseet for it to return to normal.

Windows 7 Enterprise. Office 2007.