Can You Run Themia and Stardock Fences Together on Windows 11?

The question comes up regularly: if you already have Stardock Fences installed and you want to try Themia, do you have to uninstall one first? Will they conflict? The short answer is no — they can run together, and quite a few people do exactly that. But the better question is whether running both at the same time is actually the right move for your setup.

This article covers how the two tools coexist technically, what the combined setup looks like in practice, when it makes sense to run both, and when you are better off committing to one or the other.

How Fences and Themia each work — and why they don't conflict

The reason these two tools can run simultaneously without stepping on each other comes down to how they interact with Windows at a technical level.

Stardock Fences is a shell extension. It integrates directly into Windows Explorer — the process that manages the desktop, the taskbar, and the file system shell. Fences runs as FencesDesktop.exe alongside Explorer and draws its labeled icon containers within the Explorer desktop layer. When you double-click a blank area of your desktop and all your icons disappear, that is Fences operating inside the shell. When auto-organize fires and an icon slides into its assigned container, that is Fences intercepting Explorer's icon management. It is woven into the operating system's own desktop infrastructure.

Themia works differently. It is a native application built on Tauri — a Rust-based framework — and it runs as its own process entirely separate from Explorer. Themia creates a transparent overlay window that sits above the desktop wallpaper but below your regular application windows. Widgets are rendered into that overlay. From Windows' perspective, Themia is just another window; it is not a shell extension and it does not hook into Explorer's icon management code at all.

Because they occupy genuinely different layers — Fences inside the Explorer shell, Themia as an overlay window above it — the two tools do not share code paths, do not compete for the same system hooks, and do not cause each other to crash. Running them together is technically straightforward.

What running both looks like in practice

In a side-by-side setup, Fences handles your desktop icons. If you have saved files, shortcuts, and folders directly on the desktop, Fences groups them into its labeled containers. You can use Fences' auto-organize rules to route new files into the right container automatically, roll up a container to hide it when you don't need it, blur the background behind a fence for visual separation, and use Win+Space (Peek) to hide all your desktop content and see your wallpaper cleanly.

Themia, meanwhile, sits above all of that, adding live data that Fences cannot provide. A calendar widget shows today's meetings and upcoming events. An email widget surfaces unread messages from your inbox. A weather widget refreshes on a schedule. System stats — CPU, RAM, GPU, disk, network — update in real time. Notes, to-do lists, RSS feeds, stock prices, GitHub activity, music playback controls: all of these live in Themia widgets that appear on the desktop alongside whatever Fences containers you have configured.

The visual result is a desktop where Fences owns the lower half (or wherever you have positioned your icon containers) and Themia widgets fill the remaining space with live information. Many users run the two tools in exactly this arrangement, particularly people who have a large collection of project folders on the desktop alongside a need for at-a-glance data.

The memory and startup cost of running both

Running both tools is technically fine, but it is not free. The honest accounting matters, especially on machines where memory is already under pressure.

A typical Fences installation — a handful of containers, a few folder portals, no extreme icon counts — idles at roughly 80–120 MB of RAM. This covers the FencesDesktop.exe process and the Explorer shell extension overhead. (For a deeper look at exactly where Fences' memory goes, the Fences performance breakdown covers each component in detail.)

Themia adds its own footprint on top of that. Because it is built on Tauri rather than Electron, its footprint is smaller than many competing widget apps, but it is not zero. Running both means combining those two overhead numbers into a single budget.

On a machine with 16 GB of RAM, the combined overhead is unlikely to register. On an 8 GB system — still common in business laptops and budget machines — it is worth pausing. Every megabyte that desktop tools hold at idle is a megabyte not available to your browser, your communication apps, or whatever application you are actually trying to run. If memory is genuinely tight, running one tool rather than two is the right call.

Startup time is a secondary concern. Fences loads with Windows Explorer during login and needs to enumerate your icons, apply organization rules, and draw its containers before the desktop is in its final state. Themia starts as a separate process and launches independently. On fast hardware with NVMe storage, neither tool adds noticeable login delay on its own. Stacking them means two separate startup tasks rather than one, but the practical impact is small on any machine purchased in the last four or five years.

When running both actually makes sense

There is a specific situation where running Fences and Themia together is the genuinely right answer rather than a transitional compromise: when you have a large number of desktop icons that you actively use and you also want live data on the same screen.

If your desktop holds dozens of project shortcuts, frequently accessed files, application launchers, and folder aliases — and you rely on Fences' auto-organize rules to keep them sorted — then replacing Fences entirely with Themia's files widget is not a clean swap. Fences' auto-sort rules handle arbitrary icon types (any file, any shortcut, any folder) according to rules you define. Themia's files widget shows the contents of a specific folder in a browsable grid. They are related but not identical capabilities.

In that case, keeping Fences for what it does well — icon organization — while adding Themia for the live data it uniquely provides is a reasonable and deliberate choice. You are not doubling up on tools that do the same thing; you are combining tools that each cover ground the other doesn't.

The side-by-side setup is also a sensible transitional arrangement. If you are evaluating whether Themia covers everything you were using Fences for, running both for a week or two lets you discover whether you actually use the Fences features that Themia cannot replicate. Many users who do this end up uninstalling Fences once they realize their desktop icon usage had already migrated to the taskbar and Start menu, and that folder portals are easily replaced by Themia's files widget.

Multi-monitor setups are another natural fit. If you use one screen primarily as a file and project staging area and a second screen as a glanceable dashboard, Fences on the primary and Themia on the secondary is a clean division. Themia's per-screen layouts let you configure an entirely different widget arrangement on each monitor, which pairs well with Fences handling icon organization on a dedicated work display. The multi-monitor guide covers both tools in that context.

Why most users end up choosing one over the other

Despite the fact that the two tools can coexist, the majority of users who start with both eventually settle on one. The reason is not technical — it is that Fences and Themia solve a very similar root problem in different ways: the desktop is not giving you enough useful information or organization for the space it occupies.

Fences answers that with better icon organization. Themia answers it with live data. If your day-to-day desktop use is primarily about accessing files and shortcuts, Fences is the more targeted tool. If it is primarily about getting information without opening applications, Themia is the better fit. Most people, on reflection, find their needs land more firmly in one camp than the other.

There is also a practical overlap that makes running both feel redundant after a while. Themia's files widget covers what most people actually used folder portals for: browse a folder's contents, open a file, see what is in a project directory. If that was your primary Fences use case — not auto-sort rules, not desktop pages, not roll-up containers — then Themia already handles it, and Fences becomes a 100 MB background process you no longer need. For a deeper look at how the two tools compare feature by feature, the Stardock Fences alternatives comparison covers the overlap in detail.

Which to prioritize based on your workflow

Prioritize Fences if your desktop is your active filing system. You regularly save downloads, screenshots, project files, and work documents directly onto the desktop. You rely on auto-organize rules to sort new files automatically. You use desktop pages to switch between project contexts. You want the desktop to feel like the desktop — icons, double-click to open, minimal reinvention.

Prioritize Themia if your desktop is mostly empty right now and you want it to do more. You open six or seven apps every morning just to check the same information. You want weather, calendar, email, and system stats visible without switching windows. You have already moved your application launching to the taskbar and Start menu and barely save anything directly to the desktop anymore. You would rather pay $19 once for a full widget set than $29.99 for an icon organizer you use partially.

Run both if you have a genuine and ongoing need for icon auto-organization — not just a folder or two, but a full system of Fences containers with rules that you actively maintain — alongside a need for live data widgets. The combined setup is supported, stable, and used by real people. Just go in with clear eyes about the memory cost and make sure your hardware can absorb it comfortably.

For most users who are not in that specific situation, the honest answer is that Themia covers the more common set of needs at a lower price point, with a smaller footprint, and without hooking into the Windows shell. The desktop organization question — what do I do with all these icons? — usually resolves itself once the desktop becomes a live dashboard rather than a staging area.

FAQ

Can Themia and Stardock Fences run at the same time on Windows 11?

Yes. Fences runs as a shell extension inside Windows Explorer, while Themia runs as a separate overlay window that sits above the desktop. They operate on different layers and do not interfere with each other. You can have Fences containers organizing your icons while Themia widgets display live data alongside them.

How much memory does running both Fences and Themia use?

A typical Fences setup uses around 80–120 MB of RAM at idle. Themia adds its own footprint on top of that. On a 16 GB system this is rarely a concern, but on a machine with 8 GB of RAM the combined overhead eats into the headroom available for your browser, communication apps, and whatever you are actually trying to get done. If memory is tight, pick one rather than running both.

Do Fences and Themia ever conflict or crash each other?

There are no known conflicts between the two applications. Because Fences is a Windows Explorer shell extension and Themia is an independent overlay process, they do not share code paths or compete for the same system hooks. If you ever see a crash after installing one alongside the other, the most likely culprits are graphics drivers or a third-party antivirus interfering with one of the processes — not the two apps conflicting directly.

Fences already has folder portals — why would I also need Themia?

Folder portals in Fences mirror a folder's contents onto the desktop as icons you can click and drag. Themia's files widget does something similar, but the two tools are aimed at different workflows. More importantly, Fences stops there: it cannot show you today's calendar events, your unread emails, the current weather, your CPU temperature, or live stock prices. Themia's value is in the full set of live widgets, not just the folder widget on its own. If all you need is file browsing, Fences portals cover it fine. If you want a dashboard, you need Themia.

Should I uninstall Fences before installing Themia?

Not necessarily. If you are evaluating Themia and want to keep your existing Fences setup intact while you explore, install Themia alongside Fences and run them together for a week. If you find that Themia covers your needs — especially the file browsing that folder portals handled — you can then uninstall Fences and recover the memory overhead. There is no technical reason to uninstall first.

Which one should I choose if I can only pick one?

It depends on how you use your desktop. If you store a large number of files and shortcuts directly on the desktop and need them sorted automatically into labeled groups, Fences is the purpose-built answer. If your desktop is mostly empty and you want it to show you live information — calendar events, unread mail, the weather, system load — then Themia is the better fit. Themia also covers basic folder browsing, so unless you rely heavily on Fences' auto-organize rules or desktop pages, Themia tends to serve the broader set of use cases.

Does Themia work on multiple monitors the way Fences does?

Yes. Themia supports per-screen layouts, so you can configure an entirely different set of widgets on each monitor. Fences also spans multiple monitors — you drag each fence container to the screen you want it on. If you are running a dual-monitor setup and wondering how to get the most out of both tools together, the multi-monitor guide linked in this article covers the topic in detail.