Restore Full Desktop

[Guest]

Something happened and I have lost about 20% of my desktop on the left side
above the Start Button. There is a column (about 2 inched wide) which has
some file options on it at the top--Folder Tasks, Other Places, Details--all
of which are drop down menus that expand. It has pushed all my desktop icons
to the right and reduced the workable desktop space by about 20%. I want to
get rid of this and restore the full desktop. I tried "right clicking" on
it" to restore properties, or something like that, but there is no menu to
change settings.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
Viper

 

[JS]

Sound like your 'Taskbar' moved, right click on an un-used area of the
taskbar and un-lock it (if it's locked) then move it back to the bottom.

JS

 

[Guest]

Sure...

1) Go to Start / Run... and type in DESK.CPL
2) That'll open the Disiplay Properties. Select the Desktop tab at the top,
then click the Customize Desktop... button at the bottom.
3) In the Desktop Items window that opens, click the Web tab, then UN-check
everything.

Click OK to close that, then OK to close the other window. That should do it.


Shawn

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

See www.dougknox.com, Win XP Fixes, Remove Common Tasks From Desktop

 

[Guest]

Hey thanks Mr. Knox! I had never heard of that... amazing. I just assumed
it was a folder set as an active desktop item. I feel dumb now, heh.


Shawn

 

[Guest]

Shawn,
It didn't work...its still there.
I am about to try Doug Knox's solution which makes me a little nervous be
cause it goes back to 2003 and I have XP Media 2004....unless you have
another idea...

Viper

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Something happened and I have lost about 20% of my desktop on the
left side above the Start Button. There is a column (about 2 inched
wide) which has some file options on it at the top--Folder Tasks,
Other Places, Details--all of which are drop down menus that expand.
It has pushed all my desktop icons to the right and reduced the
workable desktop space by about 20%. I want to get rid of this and
restore the full desktop. I tried "right clicking" on it" to restore
properties, or something like that, but there is no menu to change
settings.

It's called the "Common Tasks Bar."

To get rid of it, go to Doug Knox's site, http://www.dougknox.com. On the
left, click Win XP Fixes, then Remove Common Tasks from Desktop.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Nope, its actually a missing registry entry that causes it.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00021400-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\shellex\ExtShellFolderViews\{5984FFE0-28D4-11CF-AE66-08002B2E1262}

Name: PersistentMoniker
Value: file://%userappdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop.htt

The utility checks to see if the value is there, or not, and correct. If not, it will correct it for you.

 

[Guest]

I ran Doug Knox's fix, and it worked perfectly.
Thanks.

viper

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I ran Doug Knox's fix, and it worked perfectly.
Thanks.

You're welcome. Glad to help. Doug's fixes are always good.