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Winstep Xtreme v22.7 Released!

July 27, 2022




An integrated workspace environment, Winstep Xtreme is a powerful suite of applications that merge incredible usability and performance with breathtaking eye candy.

Xtreme runs on the 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8.x, 10 and 11.

Full compatibility with Windows 11 is here!




Windows 11 Compatible v27.7 makes Winstep Xtreme 100% compatible with Microsoft Windows 11.

Under Windows 11, v22.7 brings back the missing volume, power and net system tray icons, adds a new Widgets internal command, fixes Apps appearing empty, shows the Windows Calendar when clicking the clock and automatically uses the Gray dark mode for the Winstep UI when it runs for the first time and it detects that dark mode is enabled. v22.7 includes many other new features and stability improvements!


Important note to currently registered Winstep Xtreme users:


To make up for the fact that there were no new releases for a while, this upgrade - making Winstep Xtreme applications FULLY compatible with a brand new Windows version - is FREE to you provided your license key is valid for updates released until October 27 2020 or later.

If you are updating via the Winstep Update Manager, the Updater itself will let you know if your license key is NOT valid for v22.7, in which case you will have to either renew your upgrade subscription or stay with the version you already have.

You can find more details about your license key at the bottom of the About tab of NextSTART or WorkShelf Preferences. You can also renew your upgrade subscription from that tab if necessary. For more information about Winstep Xtreme's Upgrade Policy please click here.



WorkShelf v22.7 complete change log:


  • Updated Portuguese language file.
  • Updated Bulgarian language file.
  • Updated Chinese Traditional language file.
  • Updated Dutch language file.
  • Updated Czech language file.
  • Updated Portuguese (Brasil) language file.
  • Updated French language file.
  • Added new 'Windows Widgets' internal command (Windows 11 only). Opens the Widgets panel in Windows 11.
  • The pop up calendar module can now be closed by pressing the ESC key. Useful when navigating a dock, etc, using just the keyboard.
  • The Grayscale mouseover effect now supports a duration setting. In the slower duration the transition from grayscale to color and vice-versa is immediate.
  • Improved transitioning to and from full screen apps plus handling of screen resolution and monitor number changes.
  • Windows 11: the power, volume and network system icons are now part of the system tray icons again.
  • Windows 11: clicking on the clock now shows the Windows 11 calendar instead of the Date and Time dialog.
  • Windows 11: The Apps tab type (which should display all installed UWP apps on that system) appeared blank.
  • Windows 11: if Windows is using Dark Mode, the Winstep application will, when run for the first time, use Dark Mode Gray for the GUI instead of the Dark Mode Black used under Windows 10.
  • Windows 11: Under Windows 11 the name and landing pages of some of the Windows Settings internal commands are slightly different from those in Windows 10 to reflect the changes in the Settings panel of Windows 11.
  • The systray popup panel for Sound devices could appear off-screen when using multiple audio devices.
  • Some APC UPSs would slowly alternate between charging and monitoring the battery level after a power outage, which would result in multiple Charging and Power Restored entries in the Power Events Log.
  • It was possible to activate a Shelf via a keyboard hotkey while it was still playing a hide or pop up animation. This could result in an unresponsive Shelf.
  • The pop up calendar module could be moved with the arrow keys. Only the desktop version of this module should be allowed to, as doing this would otherwise corrupt the position of the desktop version of the module.
  • For the MSN Weather data feed, the observation time and day/night icons could be wrong for timezones far from GMT.
  • For the MSN Weather data feed, wind direction was always displayed as 0 degrees.
  • Trying to move the popup calendar module would make it disappear or abruptly change position.
  • A running UWP app would cause any context menu open on a tasklist live thumbnail to close once per second.
  • Fixed Chinese/Far Eastern text getting cropped inside buttons in the GUI when the Interface mode in the About tab of Preferences is anything other than 'Standard User Interface'.
  • Fixed error in the Weather module's METAR data decoder when converting Atmospheric pressure values from inhg to hpa.


NextSTART v22.7 complete change log:


  • Updated Portuguese language file.
  • Updated Bulgarian language file.
  • Updated Chinese Traditional language file.
  • Updated Dutch language file.
  • Updated Czech language file.
  • Updated Portuguese (Brasil) language file.
  • Updated French language file.
  • Added new 'Windows Widgets' internal command (Windows 11 only). Opens the Widgets panel in Windows 11.
  • The NextSTART Taskbar now has a 'Windows Widgets' quick launch icon by default under Windows 11.
  • The right click menu of a taskbar button on the NextSTART taskbar now also displays a 'Taskbar Settings' entry.
  • The 'Keep the Windows taskbar visible' option in the Taskbar tab of Preferences is now disabled if "Allow NextSTART to replace the windows taskbar" is NOT checked.
  • Improved transitioning to and from full screen apps plus handling of screen resolution and monitor number changes.
  • Windows 11: the power, volume and network system icons are now part of the system tray icons again.
  • Windows 11: clicking on the clock now shows the Windows 11 calendar instead of the Date and Time dialog.
  • Windows 11: The Apps sub-menu (which should display all installed UWP apps on that system) was popping up blank.
  • Windows 11: if Windows is using Dark Mode, the Winstep application will, when run for the first time, use Dark Mode Gray for the GUI instead of the Dark Mode Black used under Windows 10.
  • Windows 11: Under Windows 11 the name and landing pages of some of the Windows Settings internal commands are slightly different from those in Windows 10 to reflect the changes in the Settings panel of Windows 11.
  • Added the following OPTIONAL new theme settings used to define the text used for the clock and date text in the system tray. To retain backwards compatibility, if SysFontColor is defined then ALL other settings MUST be defined as well. If SysFontColor is not defined in the theme configuration file, all other settings below are ignored and the tasklist button settings are used instead.

    SysFont
    SysFontSize
    SysFontBold
    SysFontItalic
    SysFontColor
    SysFontEffect
    SysFontEffectColor
    SysTextOffsetY

  • The systray popup panel for Sound devices could appear off-screen when using multiple audio devices.
  • The label description for docks and grid stacks in the Item Properties dialog always appear disabled.
  • The 'Tasklist Settings' entry is no longer displayed in the right click menu of an application in the 'Running Applications Menu'.
  • The 'Insert New Menu Item - Menu - Running Applications menu' right click option was not inserting the proper item into a NextSTART menu.
  • A running UWP app would cause any context menu open on a tasklist live thumbnail to close once per second.
  • Fixed Chinese/Far Eastern text getting cropped inside buttons in the GUI when the Interface mode in the About tab of Preferences is anything other than 'Standard User Interface'.
  • Under specific conditions the tooltip for certain systray icons might become 'stale' (i.e.; wouldn't always display the latest information) or would not update itself correctly.
  • Inserting a Time or System Uptime item into a menu via a right-click context menu instead of using the built-in Menu Editor would incorrectly leave the associated labels blank rather than labeling them as 'Clock' and 'System Uptime'. As a result these two would appear in the Menu Editor as items with no label.

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