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.

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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
    2010-08-21T01:41:39+00:00

    I signed up just to put my 2cents in on this topic.  Brand new Dell laptop and am new to Win7 (been a WinXP user forever).  When I unlock it, it says safe to remove usb hardware, though there wasn't any in use.  I set all icons to hide/no notifications (which also doesn't seem to work reliably), but the hardware icon seems to hang up the task bar anyway.  I restarted explorer as mentioned above and it temporarily solves the problem.  I guess this is what I deserve for not forking out the 2 grand for a mac.

    C'mon, MS! How many years and versions does it take to make a decent UI???

    Sooo glad I chose to get the XP Virtual Machine option. :)

    PS thanks to all the folks who brought this issue up and shared their solutions.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-08-09T15:51:32+00:00

    This IS the "simplest" solution !  And with UTMOST respect to you, bkurtin, you don't have to open-close-reopen the Task Manager... you can do it in "one fell swoop" in about ten seconds!!! : )

    Don't count on Microsoft to fix much, anytime soon.  Although I don't think they "sit on the right hand of evil" as all the Mac goonies out there seem to think, Ido believe their customer service is positively atrocious.  Or worse.  And their "help" screens / text?  Utterly useless about 90% of the time - especially true of Excel and Access.

    BTW... how do companies GET THIS BIG and RICH, and remain so?  Because we all continue to buy what they sell.  In other words, we're all part of the problem.  We "all" hate Walmart, yes?  But it doesn't stop us from shopping there, does it?

                   Mark M, La Crosse, WI, USA

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-07-26T04:47:57+00:00

    I just saw a solution somewhere that worked for me.  

    I hit control+alt+delete to get to task manager > processes and clicked on "explorer.exe" and then ended the process.  This caused all desktop icons to disappear as well as the task bar.  I then hit control+alt+delete again to get to the task manager.  Once there i hit file>new task then typed in cmd.  When the DOS window opened I typed in "explore.exe" and voila, all the desktop icons returned as well as an auto-hiding task bar.  

    It's a bit cumbersome but only takes about 20 seconds.  Faster than a reboot.

    Hey Microsoft, how about posting a fix for this annoyance.  For me, the biggest pain is when using MS Word 2007. When the auto hide doesn't work I can't use the zoom slider at the bottom of a document.

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