HideOS and Instantsheller

[LucasBarton]

Ok, a short while back I set up GameEX and attempted to use Instantsheller. Everything worked great for about a day, then everything went haywire and I ended up having to re-install Windows. So, because of this I will not use Instantsheller again. Now, I notice that there's an option to use something called HideOS. I've read that it hides the desktop and icons like Instantsheller did. Is HideOS safer than Instantsheller? I'd like to hide the desktop, but I have everything set up perfect now and I don't want to risk losing everything again. Any info would be great.

[Brian Hoffman]

Ok, a short while back I set up GameEX and attempted to use Instantsheller. Everything worked great for about a day, then everything went haywire and I ended up having to re-install Windows. So, because of this I will not use Instantsheller again. Now, I notice that there's an option to use something called HideOS. I've read that it hides the desktop and icons like Instantsheller did. Is HideOS safer than Instantsheller? I'd like to hide the desktop, but I have everything set up perfect now and I don't want to risk losing everything again. Any info would be great.

Use norton ghost and make a back up of your working config... This helps but is no way an awenser to your question.

I like instant sheller.

This is the awenser. HideOs just makes your desktop black hides the taskbar and all Icons. This usually runs when gameex runs. you launch a game the screen goes dark and loads the emu. with this disabled or with the show desktop option when you launch the game instead of the screen going black you see your desktop for a split second. Some emus require this as they do not run on top of HIDEOS so it appears that the emu doesnt work.

It just make things look cleaner.

[headkaze]

I doubt Instant Sheller caused any harm to your computer. All Instant Sheller does is edit the registry (although the boot logo stuff might be a bit riskier to use - I would probably just not use that part of it but there havn't been any reports of it being problematic).

It's quite easy to undo what Instant Sheller does, you can always get back your desktop by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Esc to bring up Task Manager and then select File->Run->explorer.exe.

There are other ways to remove your desktop quite easily.

- Set your wallpaper to black

- Rightclick your desktop select Arrange Icons By->Show Desktop Icons (to remove icons)

- You can set the Taskbar to autohide, but GameEx hides it when you run it anyway

- You can place GameEx in the Startup folder and GameEx will start when you boot up the machine

Personally I have no issue with using Instant Sheller though.

[bkenobi]

Isn't there an answer to this in the FAQ? I'm just wondering because this is the 3rd or 4th thread in the last week or two that has asked exactly the same question. Either that, or perhaps a sticky should be made that answers this question once and for all. That way, the forum can be more helpful and kept cleaner.

Just a thought.

[headkaze]

Tom's the only one that can edit the FAQ, so I guess if he sees this thread and thinks it's worth adding he will.

[LucasBarton]

Thanks for the info. When I used Instantsheller before, I could never get Windows to function properly afterwards. The screen would stay black and I could never get the desktop to re-appear. Even by pressing ctl alt del, going to task manager, and entering explorer.exe in new task, all it would do was bring up the my documents folder but not the desktop. Even by disabling Instantsheller through that process, it never fixed anything. From what I could find out, it seems as though my boot.ini file was corrupted or something. I'm no computer wiz, but I looked on the net for a solution and nothing worked. Thus, I had to re-install Windows and start from scratch.

[Tom Speirs]

Isn't there an answer to this in the FAQ? I'm just wondering because this is the 3rd or 4th thread in the last week or two that has asked exactly the same question. Either that, or perhaps a sticky should be made that answers this question once and for all. That way, the forum can be more helpful and kept cleaner.

Just a thought.

Hey,

If you look at the FAQ thread in the forum, it should say please post if you think something should be added. Is it not working?

[bkenobi]

I didn't know about that button.

[headkaze]

I didn't know about that button.

Me either