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

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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

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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

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-03-01T14:03:01+00:00

    Why should I pay $30-40 to patch a $100 operating system so it does what it's supposed to do in the first place? The solution I posted immediately above your post takes 15-20 seconds, and it costs nothing. This problem only happens once or twice a week, so that works out to pretty good wages for the time it takes to fix it using Task Manager.

    Because it will never do what it's supposed to do.  Microsoft has separated themselves from their user base by assuming they know what's best for us.  And until they get back on track, you'll have to resort to either third-party apps or Linux to fill the gap.

    The solution you posted above works, yes, but you only need it once or twice a week.  I was doing it about once every two to three minutes.  15 seconds every 2 to 3 minutes is a lot of time and aggravation out of my day.  It got to the point where I was leaving Task Manager open all the time so that I could unload Explorer when it acted up, which was all the time.  So, for me, Winstep Xtreme was a solution sent from heaven.  And it also gives me functionality that improves my workflow, something that I'll never see in Windows.

    So I posted the above to let people know that a solution does exist.  Whether or not they want to purchase it is up to them.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-03-04T00:00:56+00:00

    Well, after all these years, it's a pretty safe bet that Microsoft isn't going to fix this bug. Here's the fastest and easiest workaround for when your Taskbar gets stuck in the UP position.

    Open Task Manager. (<Ctrl><Alt><Del> or right-click on the Taskbar.)

    Click on the Processes tab.

    Select explorer.exe from the list.

    Hit End Process. (This will kill the Taskbar.)

    In Task Manager go to File > New Task (Run...).

    Type in "explorer" and hit OK. (This will start a new Taskbar that should now autohide.)

    Hope this works for you all.

    This is not a solution. This is a crude, PITA, hack. Regardless of how often I have to do this, I should not have to close all of the explorer windows I have open just to get Windows to behave as it it SUPPOSED to behave.

    This is an annoying and egregious BUG that M$ could clearly fix, but doesn't bother.

    Anyone who'd rather put up with this is just encouraging M$ to ignore problems that are clearly problems that are bugging hundreds of users.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-03-04T23:10:36+00:00

    Well, I asked, and you answered. In your case, the 3rd-party app might be the best bet -- particularly if you time is worth anything. One problem that I have is that because it happens so infrequently, it's been impossible so far to figure out what's causing it. In your case, though, I'd think you should be able to chase down the app that's causing this. Have you tried going into Task Manager and killing processes one-by-one to see if one of them is causing this?

    Good luck! :o)

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