Column Layout not preserved

[Turion]

Good day,

Is there a specific way to save the column layout for the Main Window in All processes columns? I tried to hide those I didn't want and restart Process Lasso, but the default columns came back... I remember it worked for a while some months ago though.

Also, is it saved to the ini file or could this be a possible fix?

Thanks.

[Jeremy Collake]

It should save column layout, sizes, and visibility of both tabs w/o troubles.

Do you have any registry cleaners in use? These can delete Lasso's saved column data.

That saved column data could be saved in an INI file, but that would break the design I've laid out. The INI is designed for governor related settings (though there are some GUI things I admit). I've tried to keep user GUI preferences stored where they should be, in the registry.

Unfortunately, some registry cleaners think the registry key "ProcessLasso" doesn't match the installed app "Process Lasso" (notice the space).

[vasimpg]

Windows 8.1 64bit
Process Lasso v7.6 (64bit)

Same issue as above. As far as the registry is concerned:

• Values for column widths and order are saved.
• When PL gui restarts it seems to disregard the values and re-write the default installation values (as if not changed by the user)

I'm willing to try the beta if this issue is absent or an older version probably. However, i am not able to find any archived versions of Process Lasso anywhere.
Any help here would be welcome.

[Jeremy Collake]

It seems to work alright in tests in Win 8.1 x64, so I'll investigate further.

The same question I would have for you is whether you have any registry cleaner active as well? CCleaner?

[edkiefer]

Just tested on Win7, alter column width, shutdown, restarted and it did save GUI columns .
what columns are not saved are logviewer window columns .

BTW, I use Cleaner and can't remember PL coming up in list .

[Jeremy Collake]

If the culprit isn't a registry cleaner (#1 possibility), then I'd next have an interest in the update path. Any other peculiarities? Is this portable edition (discontinued)?

EDIT: I also retested all update paths and they seem fine. Only other possibility (again, besides the obvious of a registry cleaner), is some particular type of customization that is being rejected by some sanity check. That's highly unlikely

[vasimpg]

It seems to work alright in tests in Win 8.1 x64, so I'll investigate further.

The same question I would have for you is whether you have any registry cleaner active as well? CCleaner?

No CCleaner whatsoever. Fresh clean installation of Windows. Just uninstalled and i'll try a reinstall just in case.

EDIT1: It seems fine for the time. Just doing some extra checks and i'll repost my results.

EDIT2: I can't seem to understand what's going wrong. Just once again the columns get reset.

EDIT3: Finally i think i found the way to reproduce the said behaviour.
Try this:

• Modify column layout (order-width) in the first tab named "All Processes"
• Modify column layout (order-width) in the second tab named "Active Processes"
• Go to menu>Options>General Settings>Reconfig...starts. Proceed with Next->Finish -OR- Shut down GUI & Restart GUI
• Take a look at the gui. The column layout should be altered by now.

NOTES:

• Try this on a fresh installation (ie. purged settings / both registry and appdata)
• It seems actually that column widths are not preserved. Order seems unaffected.

[edkiefer]

No CCleaner whatsoever. Fresh clean installation of Windows. Just uninstalled and i'll try a reinstall just in case.

EDIT1: It seems fine for the time. Just doing some extra checks and i'll repost my results.

EDIT2: I can't seem to understand what's going wrong. Just once again the columns get reset.

EDIT3: Finally i think i found the way to reproduce the said behaviour.
Try this:

• Modify column layout (order-width) in the first tab named "All Processes"
• Modify column layout (order-width) in the second tab named "Active Processes"
• Go to menu>Options>General Settings>Reconfig...starts. Proceed with Next->Finish -OR- Shut down GUI & Restart GUI
• Take a look at the gui. The column layout should be altered by now.

NOTES:

• Try this on a fresh installation (ie. purged settings / both registry and appdata)
• It seems actually that column widths are not preserved. Order seems unaffected.

I could be wrong but reconfig start i think resets many PL defaults , Jeremy for sure .

[Turion]

Thanks for the response. My apologies but after checking how Process Lasso was being launched, I was at fault. I have been using Glarysoft Startup Manager to delay some of my startup programs and Process Lasso was one. I have removed it and it seems like the column layout is saved for the while.

I understand what you said about the ini file, no worries. I just thought it would have been a good solution and perhaps more permanent if one wants to backup or save settings.

Good to know about registry cleaners! I'll be sure to look out for it in CCleaner...if I remember.


This is probably off-topic but is it fine to launch Process Lasso using this?
"C:\Program Files\Process Lasso\ProcessLassoLauncher.exe" /nodelay

[edkiefer]

the default shortcut path is "C:\Program Files\Process Lasso\ProcessLasso.exe" /showwindow /nodelay

[Jeremy Collake]

Ah, so you've got it sorted? Nice methodological investigation Turion, and thanks for the help edkiefer!

It's fine to launch with or without /showwindow

[Turion]

Yes, it's working great so far! 

Is it possible to change the format of the Creation Time column? For instance, use the OS date and time format like ddd dd-MMM-yyyy hh:mm tt?
These settings can be found in Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Change date , time, or number formats > Additional Settings.
Honestly, a date like 31-12-2014 means nothing to me, or at least isn't as informative; Wed 31-Dec-2014 is better.

[vasimpg]

Yes, it's working great so far! 

In my case where no startup managers are in the middle, what could be going wrong. I'm still unable to get those columns to sit in place. My settings get disregarded every time PL starts. Tried clean install at no avail. Any ideas are welcome. I'm in disstress :-(

[BenYeeHua]

Yes, it's working great so far! 

Is it possible to change the format of the Creation Time column? For instance, use the OS date and time format like ddd dd-MMM-yyyy hh:mm tt?
These settings can be found in Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Change date , time, or number formats > Additional Settings.
Honestly, a date like 31-12-2014 means nothing to me, or at least isn't as informative; Wed 31-Dec-2014 is better.

Hmm, it sound good for just reading the format from the Windows then use it, but not letting the user to choose it manually.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd318086%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd318088%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

[vasimpg]

The main window seems to not retain its last position on screen. It randomly appears in a past position on screen. The problem here is i cannot identify a pattern for this odd behaviour.

The registry values for window position, column oreder/width etc. are saved in the respective keys but on restart of the gui they simply get disregarded.

[Jeremy Collake]

The main window seems to not retain its last position on screen. It randomly appears in a past position on screen. The problem here is i cannot identify a pattern for this odd behaviour.

Got any other PC optimization software on your system that might be doing a registry clean you're not aware of?

[Jeremy Collake]

Yes, it's working great so far! 

Is it possible to change the format of the Creation Time column? For instance, use the OS date and time format like ddd dd-MMM-yyyy hh:mm tt?
These settings can be found in Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Change date , time, or number formats > Additional Settings.
Honestly, a date like 31-12-2014 means nothing to me, or at least isn't as informative; Wed 31-Dec-2014 is better.

This has been an area of contention for some time. Dunno if I'll address it in legacy Lasso or the refactored Lasso that's coming in 2015. Definitely I'll never assume USA date format is preferred again, and will use the OS settings.

[vasimpg]

Got any other PC optimization software on your system that might be doing a registry clean you're not aware of?

The Windows installation on this pc is 3 days old and NO additional system tweaking/management software has been installed. Inspecting the registry nothing seems to be blocking the setting of values. In fact it seems like the GUI disregards the last saved values.

[Jeremy Collake]

The Windows installation on this pc is 3 days old and NO additional system tweaking/management software has been installed. Inspecting the registry nothing seems to be blocking the setting of values. In fact it seems like the GUI disregards the last saved values.

Hmm... I just dunno. If you notice any clues, let me know, and I'll take a look at the code to see if there is any path that could cause it to lose these settings.

Are you an administrative user, or limited user?

[vasimpg]

...
Are you an administrative user, or limited user?

The default installation user type of modern era Windows (semi Administrative ?). Listed as Administrator in User Management nonetheless.
Note: Window position is only saved if the main window gets resized in some way after it has been repositioned. Quite weird behaviour actually. :-/

[Jeremy Collake]

You are right, Administrators are now semi-Admin w/o Elevation. But there are also 'Limited' users if you check the users control panel. You choose from Admin or Limited.

You answered my question though (you are an admin).

I can't promise there isn't a bug here. Let me take some time to think about it and review the code and get back with you. Your last sentence may be the clue that I need.

[Jeremy Collake]

I hope i'm not overacting throwing so much info in this thread but it's just that it's absurd!
Note: Columns sometimes may retain their position (ie. width + order) for no apparent reason but once the backend engine gets restarted it's all reset back to default.

Give me some time. There may be no particular pattern to the apparent bug. It may affect a small percentage of PCs a small percentage of the time, who knows. We'll see once I've had time to investigate.

That's another interesting clue that the governor has anything to do with it... actually it probably doesn't, just appears to by what starting/stopping it causes the GUI to do.

[vasimpg]

Went on to try the latest version available (beta included) and still no results.
Even tried an old version of PL (6.8​). No luck there either.

I'm beginning to think that i'm doing something terribly wrong w/o knowing it.

[Jeremy Collake]

I believe a registry cleaner is active that you are unaware of. That is why sometimes the positions are retained.

When it acts, then they get reset.

That remains the most likely possibility, but there are others - as we've went through.

Very sorry for the trouble, even if it's not my fault

[vasimpg]

Would a HJT log be helpful here? I'm going to create one if it's of any use.

Thanks, trully, for your help!!!!

[Jeremy Collake]

Yes, that may be illuminating. Thanks!