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We're compiling a list of the most frequently asked questions, with carefully researched answer 
GeoShell crashes while it's starting up
Sometimes this problem is accompanied by a message about accessing memory locations ... it almost always happens while the splash screen is still being displayed (unless you have turned off the splash screen), and it is almost always the result of a well-known (but not understood) bug in GeoShell menu system. It can almost always be fixed by editing the Launch settings. For example, by merging this reg file
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GeoShell crashes just after it starts up
This crash generally happens after the shell loads and the bars are visible. It's usually a problem with a plugin, and sometimes the shell will even report which plugin caused the problem. Generally, the plugins most likely to be at fault are ones which are trying to connect to external resources and failing (like GeoWeather, GeoUsers, GeoMail, or GeoExtract), but if you've been using GeoShell fine until recently, and have recently re-configured a plugin, or installed a new plugin, start with those. The solution is usually to start removing plugins from your setup until it stabilizes.
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I use a non-English keyboard layout, and now I can't type the character @.
If there are any keyboard keystrokes that seem to not work properly after installing GeoShell it's probably because of hotkeys that were set up by GeoShell.
Specifically, one version of the GeoShell installer settings were accidentally based off Jaykul's personalized installation and includes several hotkeys which are guaranteed not to actually work on your computer (they point to scripts and/or folder locations which you won't have), but still make those key-combinations not work for other things. Of course, this means that they seem to stop working "for no reason" (ie: nothing happens at all when you press them). Most notably, in this installer, CTRL+ALT+Q is assigned to a (non-geoshell related) random quote script ... and CTRL+ALT blocks "ALTgr"ave which is used in combination with Q to produce the "at" sign (@) on some keyboard layouts (German, specifically).
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How can I make my GeoShell bars be like the Windows Taskbar so windows can't maximize over (or under) them?
All you have to do is set your Desktop Size
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My bars flash like crazy when I use a Java application.
Some graphics cards can't handle the way Java does it's screen updates and handle alpha blending simultaneously. You may find that using a different JVM (eg: Sun's) may help, or that one day when you upgrade your graphics drivers the problem just goes away. In the meantime, you can temporarily hide your bars by pressing the "fade" hotkey (default: Win+Z), or you can disable alpha-blending and bar shadows.
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My video won't show, it's just a black box!
Some graphics cards can't handle displaying video and handle alpha blending simultaneously. You may find that upgrading your graphics drivers fixes this, or you may not. In the meantime, you can try temporarily hiding your bars by pressing the "fade" hotkey (default: Win+Z), or you can disable alpha-blending and bar shadows.
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Can I make my bar be the full width of the screen, like the Windows taskbar?
yes, use the GeoSpacer plugin.
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How do I change the geoshell skin?
The easiest way would be to use GeoSkin, an external application you can find in the plugins download section. 
Geoskin won't work with GeoShell beta > 1.3.10. You would need to open regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Geo\GeoShell\ShellUI\Skin and change the name at "Skin Name" to the one you like (no path, just the name). You can also change the skin for each bar individual. Look at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Geo\GeoShell\Services\Plugins\GeoBar (X) (where X is a bar's number) If you change "Skin" it will override the global setting.
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Can I have a web page as my desktop background?
Web page backgrounds in windows are part of ActiveDesktop, which is part of the Windows Explorer Shell. It uses a lot of memory, so it's not supported in GeoShell R4. However, there is a trick that you can use: Active Desktop Simulation
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Why is the beta more stable than the stable?
The simple answer is: we're working on this, but we just can't seem to agree on when to release "stable" builds. When we actually think a build might not be stable, we label it "alpha" and typically only release it through the #geoshell irc channel on irc.geoshell.org.
Because of that, our beta releases are generally quite stable by the time they hit SourceForge's repository. We have a rule that there should be no untested features in a stable release, but developers get bored when all they are allowed to do is bug fixes. So often, even when they are planning a stable release, they end up sidetracked because someone writes a new feature they want to include.
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So, should I use the beta or the stable?
You probably want the latest beta release. As a general rule, if you see there has been a long time (several weeks) since the last beta release, it's almost certain that no annoying bugs are present in the latest beta, and in that case, you should deffinitely go for it. If, in addition to that, there have been a lot of beta releases since the last stable release, it's almost certain that there are a lot of new features worth upgrading for. In that case, you will probably find that every time you post on the forums to complain about a bug, people will simply expect you to upgrade to the latest beta to get the fix.
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How do I uninstall Geoshell?
It's quite simple, read here: Uninstalling GeoShell
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Where can I get a calendar like the one at the screenshots?
Most likely it is a program called Rainlendar
, although some people use Samurize to build a calendar
