Taskbar disappearing and reappearing

[harry.wj]

Symptoms:

Slow performance, files, folders and programs taking a while to load. Often
they hang then taskbar disappears, whatever I'm trying to open closes down,
taskbar reappears but quicklaunch icons all hidden. I have to unlock
taskbar, right click to open quicklaunch toolbar then put icons back in
order as they have been jumbled about.

I keep a clean system: defrag regularly, scan for spyware and viruses often.
Why is this happening and what can I do to fix it?

Regards

Harry


****************************************************
MSI KT4 Ultra
AMD XP 3000+
Thermaltake Venus Silentboost
Crucial 2x512mb PC2700 CL2.5 DDR RAM
Gainward Geforce 6800 GT (2400 TV-DVI Golden Sample)
Pioneer DVD-106
Plextor PX-716A
Western Digital Caviar 7200 WD1200BB ATA 100 120Gb (Master)
Western Digital Caviar 7200 WD800JB ATA 100 80Gb (Slave)
Creative SB Live! 5.1
Alcatel SpeedTouch USB ADSL
Thermaltake Xaser III Super Tower
Thermaltake 420W Silent PurePower Dual Fan PSU
Win XP Pro SP2

 

[Malke]

Symptoms:

Slow performance, files, folders and programs taking a while to load.
Often they hang then taskbar disappears, whatever I'm trying to open
closes down, taskbar reappears but quicklaunch icons all hidden. I
have to unlock taskbar, right click to open quicklaunch toolbar then
put icons back in order as they have been jumbled about.

I keep a clean system: defrag regularly, scan for spyware and viruses
often. Why is this happening and what can I do to fix it?

Regards

You've got a lovely system. Make sure it isn't overheating, which is
what it sounds like. Check the fan on your Gainward. Also, make sure
you haven't got too many processes/programs running in the background.
Got any sort of distributed computing program running, like SETI@Home?

Malke

 

[Venkatesh [MS India Community Star]]

Hi,

As per your description, looks like the issue you are experiencing is due to
the low system resources. So, here is an interesing article from HP for
improving system performance:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=buh06
569

HTH
Venkatesh

 

[harry.wj]

Thanks

My temps are fine, mid 30s for both CPU and case. My GPU is brand new and
runs like a dream, so is cool enough. Sorry, I don't know what a distributed
computing program is, so that's probably not the problem. I do like to
multi-task, but I try to keep as few programs running in the background as
possible; AVG antivirus, Webroot Spysweeper, ZoneAlarm, and I usually have
either a P2P or Firefox running.

After reading the HP web pages, I set my System Restore memory usage to 1%
instead of the max and that helped a little. No programmes seem to be
hogging more memory than they should.

Why would the taskbar disappear and the quicklaunch icons rearrange
themselves into what looks like alphabetical order though? Can I set the
icons to stay in my custom order?

Harry

 

[Malke]

Thanks

My temps are fine, mid 30s for both CPU and case. My GPU is brand new
and runs like a dream, so is cool enough. Sorry, I don't know what a
distributed computing program is, so that's probably not the problem.
I do like to multi-task, but I try to keep as few programs running in
the background as possible; AVG antivirus, Webroot Spysweeper,
ZoneAlarm, and I usually have either a P2P or Firefox running.

After reading the HP web pages, I set my System Restore memory usage
to 1% instead of the max and that helped a little. No programmes seem
to be hogging more memory than they should.

Why would the taskbar disappear and the quicklaunch icons rearrange
themselves into what looks like alphabetical order though? Can I set
the icons to stay in my custom order?

I have no idea. Check out MVP Kelly Theriot's website for Taskbar repair
and icon stuff:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp.htm

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your graphics card. You said
you scan for spyware and viruses "often". It couldn't hurt to run
through these malware/maintenance steps. Do everything with updated
tools in Safe Mode:

1) Scan in Safe Mode with current version (not earlier than 2003)
antivirus using updated definitions.

2) Remove spyware with Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware. These
programs are free, so use them both since they complement each other.
There is a new version of CWShredder from Intermute. I would not
install the other Intermute programs, however. Alternately, there are
CoolWebSearch malware removal steps at SilentRunners.

Be sure to update these programs before running, and it is a good idea
to do virus/spyware scans in Safe Mode. Make sure you are able to see
all hidden files and extensions (View tab in Folder Options).

HijackThis is an excellent tool to discover and disable hijackers, but
it requires expert skill. See below for HijackThis links. A combination
of HijackThis and About:Buster works well in removing the About:Blank
homepage hijacker. Again, this is an expert tool and novices should get
help with it.

3) If you are running Windows ME or XP, you should disable/enable System
Restore because malware will be in the Restore Points. With ME, you
must disable System Restore completely. With XP, you can delete all but
the most recent (presumably clean) System Restore point from the More
Options section of Disk Cleanup (Run>cleanmgr).

Links to help with malware:

Software/Methods:
http://www.safer-networking.org - Spybot Search & Destroy
http://www.lavasoftusa.com - Ad-aware
http://www.majorgeeks.com - good download site
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_cwsremoval.html. - SilentRunners

HijackThis:
http://www.aumha.org/a/hjttutor.htm - HijackThis tutorial by Jim
Eshelman
http://spywarewarrior.com/viewforum.php?f=5 - Spyware Warrior HijackThis
forum
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/

General:
http://forum.aumha.org/ - look under "Security" for various forums
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

Then move on to general maintenance:

1) Delete temporary and Temporary Internet Files.
2) Stop unnecessary services/programs from starting with Windows - see
www.blackviper.com for services info and
www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm for programs info.
3) Look in Event Viewer for clues.
4) Make sure you've visited Windows Update and applied all security
patches. Do not install driver updates from Windows Update.
5) Run a firewall.

Malke

 

[harry.wj]

Wow! That's some list. Thanks so much. I'll try them out at get back to you.

Harry

 

[harry.wj]

Hi Malke

Well, I did a few of the things you suggested. I got Spybot S&D ran it my
already installed and updated SpySweeper and AVG antivirus in safe mode with
system restore off. About a dozen or so spyware traces were found that
weren't found when WXP is running in normal mode. Rebooting into WXP was
faster than normal and I noticed a positive difference in general running.

I also got the taskbar repair tool from Kellys Korner and used it to save my
Quick Launch icons order.

Thanks for your help; looks like things are getting back to the way they
should be. I learned a few things today!

Regards

Harry

 

[Malke]

Hi Malke

Well, I did a few of the things you suggested. I got Spybot S&D ran it
my already installed and updated SpySweeper and AVG antivirus in safe
mode with system restore off. About a dozen or so spyware traces were
found that weren't found when WXP is running in normal mode. Rebooting
into WXP was faster than normal and I noticed a positive difference in
general running.

I also got the taskbar repair tool from Kellys Korner and used it to
save my Quick Launch icons order.

Thanks for your help; looks like things are getting back to the way
they should be. I learned a few things today!

Excellent! I'm so glad you got things sorted. Thanks very much for
letting me know. Now stay safe! ;-)

Malke