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
    2011-01-04T04:28:30+00:00

    I posted this on another forum and they directed me here along with a possible "fix" of sorts. I've been having the same problem with the task bar not hiding...or whenever it so choses to do so. In any event, it's a real nuisance, to say the least.

    I don't know if anyone ever saw it, but, there was a Microsoft TV commercial where it was compared to Apple. On one side of the desk is a huge pile of money........for marketing; on the other side of the desk is a very small amount of money.......for research. I think this issue is what that commercial was all about!

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-12-30T00:38:54+00:00

    This is how I solved the problem:

    Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) -> Task Manager.

    Select Processes Tab, find 'explorer.exe'.

    Right-Click 'explorer.exe' -> End Process.

    Click File -> New Task (Run...).

    type 'explorer.exe' -> Okay.

    Should reset your taskbar and allow for auto-hiding once again, hopefully.  Worked or me.  Good luck all.

     

    Best,

    Josh

    This sort of worked for me. It kills the taskbar but then it doesn't restart, so I'm left pretty stranded. Fortunately I was able to figure out how to manually start the taskbar back up:

    1. In the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete or Ctrl+Shift+Escape to go straight to it) go to Applications
    2. Click "New Task..." in bottom right
    3. Enter "explorer" and and click OK, (fyi "explorer.exe" didn't work for me even though that's the process name you kill)

    That brought the taskbar back for me and it would auto-hide again... until it gets stuck the next time at least. Ugh.

    I regularly run into situations where the taskbar is stuck up, and even after closing all programs it still won't auto-hide! It seems if there's any pending update anywhere in the system it gets stuck, among many other inane reasons.

    I have to admit this is really frustrating. I've used the auto-hide feature since Windows XP and it always been buggy, but it seems to actually get buggier with each version of Windows! It's the one thing I want Microsoft to get right and improve when I get a new version of Windows, but it keeps getting worse, to the point where I'm close to not using it anymore as much as it bugs me to lose the extra screen space. How hard is it to just make the auto-hide work! Ugh.

    /rant

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-12-25T17:08:56+00:00

    In my case, it turned out to be a java update notification that kept my taskbar from autohiding.  Very frustrating since there really was no other notification that I had a pending request.  I believe that this is the main reasons for the taskbar not autohiding, there is a pending request or user input needed for some application that is keeping the taskbar from autohiding.  Of course, your mileage may vary.

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