TaskBar Hide

[E/B]

Taskbar AutoHide suddenly has ceased to function; no other problem or
unusual occurrence experienced.
Made 3 - 4 attempts at re-activating, but the bar 'just sits there'.
"Keep on top" is not checked.
When clicking Apply and OK 'wait' hourglass appears for 3 -4 seconds (don't
remember previous occurrence, but may be the ?norm?).
Suggestions appreciated.

 

[E/B]

Follow-up.
Plot thickens. Unchecked Auto-hide/Apply/OK; reopened and checked
Auto-hide/Apply. At this point Taskbar hides correctly. Click OK and at end
of Busy the Taskbar reappears and will not hide.
Unrelated, but MS Office Shortcut Toolbar auto-hide function continues to
work correctly.

 

[E/B]

Please ignore this inquiry and the follow-up.
Resorted to a Reboot and the hide function is again operating.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[Guest]

Please ignore this inquiry and the follow-up.
Resorted to a Reboot and the hide function is again operating.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

I also experience this problem on 2 of my systems, and unfortunately, reboot
doesn't always work. On one sytem the problem appeared after setting up a
non-administrator account and went away after deleting that account. Repeated
the process on another system (different hardware), and the system continued
to not auto-hide no matter how many reboots. On other systems, the problem
reappears and later goes away withouth rhyme or reason. What's needed is to
find out what causes it. I've pored through the registry to try to find some
relevant setting but so far, to no avail. If anyone has even a clue or a
hint, I'll help track it down.

 

[Guest]

I also experience this problem on 2 of my systems, and unfortunately, reboot
doesn't always work. On one sytem the problem appeared after setting up a
non-administrator account and went away after deleting that account. Repeated
the process on another system (different hardware), and the system continued
to not auto-hide no matter how many reboots. On other systems, the problem
reappears and later goes away withouth rhyme or reason. What's needed is to
find out what causes it. I've pored through the registry to try to find some
relevant setting but so far, to no avail. If anyone has even a clue or a
hint, I'll help track it down.

Update on the problem discussed above . . .

Found a post the seemed to indicate the problem is related to the
explorer.exe process. I routinely keep multiple explorer windows open but
minimized, for quick access to a multitude of files/folders/volumes. I also
have my system configured to reopen them on restart. Stopping the
explorer.exe process immediately allows autohide to function again, but
sometimes only after a reboot. Then after reopening all the explorer windows
again, it continues to work. Seems to indicate the issue is with the
explorer.exe process, but don't yet have an answer.

 

[Stan Brown]

Found a post the seemed to indicate the problem is related to the
explorer.exe process. I routinely keep multiple explorer windows open but
minimized, for quick access to a multitude of files/folders/volumes. I also
have my system configured to reopen them on restart. Stopping the
explorer.exe process immediately allows autohide to function again, but
sometimes only after a reboot. Then after reopening all the explorer windows
again, it continues to work. Seems to indicate the issue is with the
explorer.exe process, but don't yet have an answer.

That could have been my post.

I originally configured explorer to run multiple processes as you
have done, but it was a pain closing multiple processes when the
auto-hide stoped working, so now I have explorer running as one
process.

The only answer I can imagine for why this auto-hide problem
develops is "it's a bug". One day I'll be annoyed enough by it that
I'll write a script and assign it a shortcut key, but until then
using Task Manager isn't too onerous IMHO.

 

[Kelly]

One day I'll be annoyed enough by it that I'll write a script ....

I already did: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--
In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree it's most likely a but (which most likely will
never get fixed, unless fortuitously!). Incidentally, I have never seen more
than one instance of the "explorer.exe" process, and stopping guarantees need
to reboot. In an extreme case, on my wife's system she frequently has 40-50
explorer windows open at a time (it's convenient for her when she is looking
thru our years of digital pix stored by month on a network drive), and still
never has more than one instance of the explorer.exe process. When the
autohide problem rears its head on that system, killing the explorer.exe
process in Task Manager, rebooting, and reopening all the remote folders
again seems to work. But, strangely, Right-Click->Close All on the group on
the Task Bar, Reboot doesn't work.

Started thru xp-tweaks, must have missed it the one about the autohide
script - there's a lot there I'd like to peruse when I have more time -but
for now, what's the number for the autohide post? Thanks.

Jim

One day I'll be annoyed enough by it that I'll write a script ....

I already did: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--
In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Stan Brown]

When the
autohide problem rears its head on that system, killing the explorer.exe
process in Task Manager, rebooting, and reopening all the remote folders
again seems to work.

Once again, you do not need to reboot. Please reread my article in
this thread.

But, strangely, Right-Click->Close All on the group on
the Task Bar, Reboot doesn't work.

I can understand why you'd think it strange. But actually it
makes sense. Explorer is not just for displaying directory windows;
it also displays the taskbar and any desktop icons. When you "Close
all" you close all the directory windows but you haven't closed the
Explorer program. If you can see your taskbar and desktop icons
then Explorer is still running.

 

[Guest]

Stan -

I see your point about what happens when I do close all on the task bar -
should have thought it through, it makes perfect sense. However, I can't
agree with you about not rebooting. When I stop the explorer.exe process with
task manager, everything on my screen goes away except the desktop and the
open task manager. If I don't reboot, I can't do anything. Is there
somethings I may be missing?

Jim

 

[Tom]

If you stop explorer through TM, you can restart it through it also. While
you are still in TM, click on (at the top), File/New task (Run) and type
EXPLORER and hit OK, and the desktop will come back.

 

[Stan Brown]

in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:


My apologies. I thought it was in this thread but it wasn=3Ft.(*) It
was in the thread =3FHint box hides behind task bar / system tray=3F,
and the article is archived at

http://groups-beta.google.com/group...hor:stan+author:brown&rnum=4#b087ba775c6e90d0

which can be shortened to http://snipurl.com/do6w

When I stop the explorer.exe process with
task manager, everything on my screen goes away except the desktop and the
open task manager. If I don't reboot, I can't do anything. Is there
somethings I may be missing?

Before closing Task Manager, do File | New Task; type =3Fexplorer=3F
(no quotes) and hit Enter. If you forget to do this before closing
Task Manager, just Ctrl-Alt-Del to reopen it.

The fact that your desktop icons disappear is good: it shows that
Explorer has been closed. They come right back when you reopen it.
(If you recently moved them around they may revert to their old
positions, but you won=3Ft lose any.)

(*)Apologies for the garbage characters in the above message.
Gravity has not adapted well to Windows XP, and one of the
annoyances is that every once in a while it decides to change real
quotes to so-caled =3Fsmart quotes=3F. There isn=3Ft even a setting for
this in the options!

 

[Guest]

Stan -

Really appreciate the information you've provided. It has been extremely
helpful (and enlightening). Do you believe that TaskBar forgetting its
autohide status is similar to the situation you discussed where Hint Box is
hidden behind TaskBar? If so, this would seem to suggest that when the
explorer.exe process is stopped and restarted, it has to go back to the
registry to find out what its settings are supposed to be. If this is the
case, why would not a reboot accomplish the same thing? Or am I missing
something, again.

If you (or Kelly or anyone else) know the number of the post referenced
earlier on "...kellys-corner...", or if Kelly can please provide it, I'd like
to pursue that avenue a bit further.

Regards,

Jim

 

[Stan Brown]

Do you believe that TaskBar forgetting its
autohide status is similar to the situation you discussed where Hint Box is
hidden behind TaskBar?

It was for me.

If so, this would seem to suggest that when the
explorer.exe process is stopped and restarted, it has to go back to the
registry to find out what its settings are supposed to be.

I have no inside information, but I believe what you say is
correct.

If this is the
case, why would not a reboot accomplish the same thing?

I am not clear whether you're saying the reboot (a) did or (b) did
not fix the problem. So I'll answer both.

(b) Because in a reboot, you have an orderly shutdown, and (I
guess) Explorer writes its confused settings. End Process
explicitly kills the process, so it doesn't write anything to
permanent storage.

(a) But even if a reboot fixes the problem, why reboot when you
don't have to?