Taskbar does not Auto-hide all the time Windows 7

Anonymous

**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!

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Anonymous

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

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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437 additional answers

Anonymous

2010-11-11T07:00:42+00:00

I'm running skype and all i did was go to my hidden icons and close it and my taskbar went back to its hiding place, i'm pretty sure its just a notification thing from the icons on the taskbar itself. Basically just check all of the icons/programs you have running if you're not using it close it. Unfortunately if you're using the application thats causing the task bar to stay open then you're kinda screwed i guess but thats just MS for you i guess...
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Anonymous

2010-11-08T05:18:12+00:00

I was having the same problem. I deleted 'TaskbarWinXP' as you suggested and it worked like a charm.

Thanks for this simple solution.
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Anonymous

2010-11-02T17:14:17+00:00

This usually happens when a window (usually a message popup or often a modal window of some sort) is waiting for user input. For example, if Outlook pops up a reminder about a meeting, it will prevent the taskbar from auto hiding until you "Dismiss" or "Snooze". I have seen this with FireFox's "Download Complete" message box. I find this behavior very annoying because it covers the bottom of my apps which are maximized. So, in Excel for example, I can't see my sheet tabs. Sometimes, you will have to minimize all windows (Win Key + D) to see the offending app because it may not show up when you Alt+Tab. After you minimize, you may have to maximize each app individually so that you can see the popup. For each app that you do this for, you may have to move some windows out of the way to see the hidden popup.
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