Taskbar does not Auto-hide all the time Windows 7

Anonymous
2009-11-21T17:32:06+00:00

**Original Title**Windows 7 taskbar won't consistantly autohide. After changing the properties to Autohide and clicking 'OK', it hides for a brief second then reappears. Other times it autohides as desired.

My taskbar autohide behaves in an erratic pattern.  When I have an alert, it autohides after resolving the alert, but other times it refuses to go away, even if I, once again, open the properties, uncheck autohide, recheck autohide, then click 'apply' and/or 'OK'. As I type this, the taskbar stubbornly remains!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-03-29T18:26:16+00:00

In the "good old days" applicaitons would often un-hide the Taskbar so their notification icons could show an updated status and they could ensure it would be seen.  I think this method has fallen out of favor, but older applications that haven't been updated could still be sending the commands to the system to show the Taskbar.  Is it possible that you have an older app in the notification area that's affecting the Taskbar as described?

What notification area icons do you have (and what versions)?

For what it's worth, I just tried disabling Avast Pro 5.0 and it still allowed the Taskbar to auto-hide.

-Noel

Was this answer helpful?

30+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2009-11-22T15:00:10+00:00

Hi Lamargene,

Welcome to Microsoft Answers.

See that “Lock the Taskbar” is not enabled. If it is, you may disable it by right-clicking on taskbar and unchecking it.

Still the same behavior?

If such is the case, I’d recommend you to download Microsoft Security Essentials on your computer. This will make sure that any virus, spyware or other malicious software on the computer is wiped out completely. Also if the weird behavior is due to any one of those, running the essentials will fix it.

Download it from

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Do you see any changes after running the essentials? Post back and let us know.

Regards,

Shinmila H - Microsoft Support

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forumand let us know what you think

Was this answer helpful?

10 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

437 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-01-19T02:56:53+00:00

    Here's what it boils down to.

    I've fought with this for years, and 9 times out of 10, I've found *something*

    has tried to notify me of something.  It may be a 3rd party app trying to bring its

    window to the foreground, or an icon in the tray area, either visible or hidden,

    trying to show me a message, or Windows Explorer itself trying to show me

    a new window (such as from a recently inserted USB drive).     Back in the days of win 95/98, if an

    app wanted to bring a window to the foreground it simply did it.  Boom, there it was.    With

    (XP?), Vista and Win7 though, instead of bringing the window or message to the foreground,

    it just flashes the window's icon in the task bar or tray and a side effect is to unhide

    the task bar if it's hidden, until the window or message is acknowledged with a click.  

    It's a feature to prevent popup windows from getting in your way and there are

    good security reasons to not allow rouge popups to take immediate focus.    

    The *bug* in Windows 7, is that the flashing or highlighting of the icon in taskbar or tray

    area just stops flashing and now there's no way to know what it was that was

    trying to get your attention.  The taskbar won't auto-hide until you acknowledge

    the window, but there's no indication of which window it was.    A hidden

    tray icon may be trying to tell you something, but there's no indication now

    which one it was.     I know this to be the case, because if I go through and literally

    click on and bring focus to *every single* window in the task bar, and every single icon in

    the tray area, 9 times out of 10, I'll eventually stumble on the one that was trying to

    tell me something, and as soon as I give it focus, the task bar hides again.

    If I've got a lot of open windows, it may not be worth the hassle, and I'll just kill

    and restart Windows Explorer.     

    I wish there was some way to kick windows explorer in the shin so it indicates what

    window/alert is trying to get my attention *again*.     Or a 3rd party app to clear that alert.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2014-01-25T10:31:51+00:00

    After several tries I think I solved this problem by inhibiting the NVIDEA (Sony VAIO) program to start on the msconfig.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-05T06:55:44+00:00

    I quit skype and restarted it. It was hanging onto the task bar, for me.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments