Missing taskbar icons

[HiTowerUK]

I am running XPSP2 Pro on a Tosh Laptop and have an intermittent problem.
When I boot up my laptop I sometimes have odd program icons missing from the
taskbar. Task Monitor shows that the programs are running but they have no
icon displayed and so cannot be accessed. This seems to happen randomly with
random programs. If I click the associated desktop icon, sometimes the
program then opens and sometimes I get a message like "the program is
already running" but when I minimise, the program icon once again doesn't
appear in the taskbar. The next time I boot the laptop, it might happen
again of it might not and it might not be the same program icons that are
missing!

I must admit to being totally baffled! I've been looking at this for weeks
trying to find a common denominator but can't. Anyone else got any ideas or
ever experienced this problem?

Regards from Roger

 

[WinGuy]

I am running XPSP2 Pro on a Tosh Laptop and have an intermittent problem.
When I boot up my laptop I sometimes have odd program icons missing from
the taskbar. Task Monitor shows that the programs are running but they have
no icon displayed and so cannot be accessed. This seems to happen randomly
with random programs. If I click the associated desktop icon, sometimes the
program then opens and sometimes I get a message like "the program is
already running" but when I minimise, the program icon once again doesn't
appear in the taskbar. The next time I boot the laptop, it might happen
again of it might not and it might not be the same program icons that are
missing!

I must admit to being totally baffled! I've been looking at this for weeks
trying to find a common denominator but can't. Anyone else got any ideas
or ever experienced this problem?

Regards from Roger

Rule out potential operating system problems by right-clicking My Computer,
select Manage, and examine the 3 Event Viewer catagories. Look for red X's
or yellow exclamation ! indicators that indicate problems. If you find any,
report them to this topic and I or maybe someone else will see if they apply
to your problem. They need to be eliminated if any problems exist and are
occuring regularly.

But, in general, the randomness and lack of error messages strongly points
to some sort of infection. You didn't say anything about what protections
you have installed and have used during your attempts to fix your problem,
and so mind reader says ...
If your antivirus is not up to date, make it so and use that utility. If you
need one, obtain AVG Free (now at version 7, version 6 is no longer
supported as of Dec 31, 2004) from grisoft.com and then uninstall your old
one and then install AVG (only one antivirus utility should be installed at
any one time, or they might fight each other). Update it and then use it.

If you've not done so then install Ad-awareSE (the old Ad-aware 6 is no
longer supported) and Spybot Search & Destroy v1.3 (earlier versions are no
longer supported). Be sure to update them and to *apply* their updates and
then run them; let them get rid of any thing they find. Uninstall any older
ones before installing new versions.

Only after having done all that, then make sure you've obtained ALL the
updates (not just the critical ones) from the Microsoft update website. Set
a Restore Point before doing any MS updates. The restore point is especially
important before doing driver updates, but do them too (one at a time,
rebooting after every update). XP usually lets you "roll back" a driver
update if it doesn't work, doing so from Safe Mode and in Device Manager for
the device at issue. Do device updates last, after all other updates. This
includes doing Office updates (the Office CD will probably be required!)
before doing the driver updates. To see all available updates, at the MS
update website choose to do the Custom Install.

Best wishes, and Happy Holidays!
Winguy

 

[HiTowerUK]

Winguy - Thanks for the detailed suggestions! I have looked at the event
viewers and there a couple of minor issues but nothing that I would say
could be connected with this problem. As far as protection is concerned, I
am running XPSP2 with all updates, NAV2005 fully updated, Spyware Doctor
fully updated plus I regularly run a full scan using adaware and spybot. In
short, my laptop is "white than white" (supposedly!)

 

[Sharon F]

I am running XPSP2 Pro on a Tosh Laptop and have an intermittent problem.
When I boot up my laptop I sometimes have odd program icons missing from the
taskbar. Task Monitor shows that the programs are running but they have no
icon displayed and so cannot be accessed. This seems to happen randomly with
random programs. If I click the associated desktop icon, sometimes the
program then opens and sometimes I get a message like "the program is
already running" but when I minimise, the program icon once again doesn't
appear in the taskbar. The next time I boot the laptop, it might happen
again of it might not and it might not be the same program icons that are
missing!

I must admit to being totally baffled! I've been looking at this for weeks
trying to find a common denominator but can't. Anyone else got any ideas or
ever experienced this problem?

Regards from Roger

Are the icons missing from the taskbar or from the notification area (tray
by the clock)? If missing from the notification error, is the system setup
for automatic logon? If yes, try logging on with a password instead. While
you're busy typing in your password, this will give Windows a few more
seconds to load the tray icons.

OR try logging off and then logging on again. Some, if not all, of the
missing icons should appear.

NOTE: The tray area is a little weak in XP and what you are seeing is not
an uncommon problem. No fix available that I know of - only workarounds.

 

[WinGuy]

Winguy - Thanks for the detailed suggestions! I have looked at the event
viewers and there a couple of minor issues but nothing that I would say
could be connected with this problem. As far as protection is concerned, I
am running XPSP2 with all updates, NAV2005 fully updated, Spyware Doctor
fully updated plus I regularly run a full scan using adaware and spybot.
In short, my laptop is "white than white" (supposedly!)

Ok, then I'm sorry but I have no further suggestions. The symptom you
describe is almost surely not asscoiated with a hardware problem, though.
Regardless of your anti-malware efforts to date, it smells like
mischief-ware to me. You could try doing a Repair (upgrade) install of XP,
if you have the same exact CD that was used to install XP to begin with. And
maybe have your Office CD's handy too. You'd have to do a lot of Microsoft
website updates after that. Or you can try using System Restore to return to
a time before the problem became apparent.

Winguy