Vanishing Taskbar Icons

[Martin]

I have recently bought a new HP PC. There area number of
programs which load at startup and their icons should
appear on the taskbar. The trouble is they don't always
appear. If I install an update or a new Application then
reboot, they are there. When a cold boot or if i reboot
a second time, they are nowhere to be seen. I know the
programs are loading but they don't show their icons.

They are not hidden behind the little arrow. I have
turned that on and off and it makes no difference.

This causes a problem because when I plug in new hardware
like an Iomega Minidrive or Zip Drive, I don't get the
icon allowing me to unplug it again. I have to reboot
the machine to safely remove the drive.

The system has been like this from the beginning and
installing SP2 made no difference. HP help lines are
baffled and cannot suggest anything. Can anyone help find
the icons and make them load.

 

[Guest]

do you have the "hide inactive icons" and the "lock the taskbar" boxes
unchecked?

 

[Guest]

I have tried both checked and unchecked for both those
settings. It makes no difference. They are currently
unchecked. The only icons visible are Norton Antivirus,
Windows Messenger and Local area network. There should
be several more.

If I cannot get the icons back at least could ome one let
me know another way to safely unplug hardwqare like the
usb minidrive, since there is no icon in the taskbar.

thanks