BallonTips/ToolTips on XP Taskbar

[Sam]

Anyone else notice or care that quite often the fly-over balloon tips
(tooltips) for icons in the system tray, the quick launch toolbar, or
minimized apps on the task bar just disappear and stop working? It appears
during this behavior the tip is "stuck" behind the readable area of the bar.
It's long been a problem in XP wonder it there is a fix besides the
temporary one that consists of unlocking, unchecking "keep taskbar on top of
other windows" then locking again. This seems to work only until the next
time you reboot.

Minor annoyance, but an annoyance just the same.

Thanks, Sam

 

[Alan]

Anyone else notice or care that quite often the fly-over balloon tips
(tooltips) for icons in the system tray, the quick launch toolbar, or
minimized apps on the task bar just disappear and stop working? It appears
during this behavior the tip is "stuck" behind the readable area of the
bar. It's long been a problem in XP wonder it there is a fix besides the
temporary one that consists of unlocking, unchecking "keep taskbar on top
of other windows" then locking again. This seems to work only until the
next time you reboot.

Minor annoyance, but an annoyance just the same.

Thanks, Sam

I find the way to get rid of the annoyance they cause is to disable them.
They are a pain wherever they are.

 

[Rock]

Anyone else notice or care that quite often the fly-over balloon tips
(tooltips) for icons in the system tray, the quick launch toolbar, or
minimized apps on the task bar just disappear and stop working? It appears
during this behavior the tip is "stuck" behind the readable area of the bar.
It's long been a problem in XP wonder it there is a fix besides the
temporary one that consists of unlocking, unchecking "keep taskbar on top of
other windows" then locking again. This seems to work only until the next
time you reboot.

Minor annoyance, but an annoyance just the same.

Thanks, Sam

No, there is no permanent fix for it.

 

[Talahasee]

I find the way to get rid of the annoyance they cause is to disable them.

I asked this question awhile back. Got no answers that I was
aware of.

how do you disable the balloon help?

tia

Tallahassee

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Tooltips behind Taskbar

This is a known problem. A couple of ways to band-aid this. Reboot or
logoff and log back on. Hide the Taskbar then show it again.

Or kill explorer.exe and restart it.

Open Task Manager...
Ctrl + Shift + Escape | Processes tab | Right click explorer.exe |
Select: End Process | Click Yes to Warning | Click File |
Click New Task (Run...) | Type: explorer | Click OK

End Task on explorer.exe will make your Desktop and all programs disappear.
Restarting explorer will bring everything back.

Microsoft has come out with a KB article. Unfortunately the KB article does
not offer any real reason for the CAUSE, or a fix.

Tooltips for some taskbar icons are hidden behind the taskbar on a Windows
XP-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=912650

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Wesley Vogel]

HOW TO: Disable Notification Area Balloon Tips in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307729

Folder Options | View tab | Unselect: Show pop-up description for folder and
desktop items | Click Apply | Click OK

Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items
[[Specifies that a description of a selected folder or desktop item is
displayed in a pop-up window. When you select this check box, the pop-up
description appears even if Web content is not enabled on your desktop or in
folders.]]

11. Disable Balloon Tips or Disable All
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Or use TweakUI.

TweakUI | Taskbar and Start menu | Enable balloon tips
[[Uncheck this box to disable balloon tips in all applications that support
Windows Themes.]]

Download TweakUI here >>>

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Tweak UI
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not
exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including
mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

Version 2.10 requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows
Server 2003.

Tweak UI
TweakUI.exe
===

Tweak UI for Windows XP Guide
http://www.winxpsolution.com/Tweakuixppro.aspx


--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

My work around was to just disable keep taskbar on top... and reenable
applying each time

 

[Guest]

My workaround which is quite fast is to download nircmd.exe (a command
utility) from into your system32 folder and then create a batch with:
nircmd.exe win settopmost class "tooltips_class32" 1
nircmd.exe win settopmost class "ToolbarWindow32" 0
Then place a shortcut to your batch into your startup folder and assign a
shortcut key like 'ctrl+alt+T' or something. The batch runs in a fraction of
a second for me.
You won't have to worry about the taskbar hiding your tooltips until that
unknown thingy screws up the topmost settings. I must hit my batch shortcut
keys about once every few hours of being on the PC. I need my notification
area tooltips so disabling is not an option for me. Let me know if this
makes life better for you.

 

[Guest]

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html

My workaround which is quite fast is to download nircmd.exe (a command
utility) from http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html into your system32 folder and then create a batch with:
nircmd.exe win settopmost class "tooltips_class32" 1
nircmd.exe win settopmost class "ToolbarWindow32" 0
Then place a shortcut to your batch into your startup folder and assign a
shortcut key like 'ctrl+alt+T' or something. The batch runs in a fraction of
a second for me.
You won't have to worry about the taskbar hiding your tooltips until that
unknown thingy screws up the topmost settings. I must hit my batch shortcut
keys about once every few hours of being on the PC. I need my notification
area tooltips so disabling is not an option for me. Let me know if this
makes life better for you.

 

[Guest]

I finally get what MS was saying was the cause of this problem. I use the
nircmd batch fix to restore my tooltips but every time I right-click (context
menu) on a "start menu submenu", it returns to being hidden. I found a way
to disable the right-click context menu for the start menu:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoChangeStartMenu"=dword:00000001
But if you try and get the context menu by right-clicking, it will hid the
tooltips again. But at least it would break the habit eventually. But I
will stick to using my batch shortcut to the nircmd command.

 

[Guest]

Thanks JV! Will give that a try!

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html