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
    2010-01-06T16:09:20+00:00

    Just to encourage some of you.  While there may indeed be something Microsoft can do to better "protect" the auto-hide functionality of the task bar, I am able to eliminate the problem on my Laptop by shutting down (in systray, or the Win7 name for it) Iris 2-button mgr for a scanner, LiveScribe Desktop mgr for the Pulse Pen, and Syncables.  Two out of three of these are looking for USB devices to be connected.

    I have not finished narrowing down the one cause like the Minefield user, but will when I have time to survive a couple of reboots and repost in case anyone's interested; but I just turned off everything that I could -- auto-hide worked; I then rebooted and turned off anything that might actively be looking for something - a USB device to be connected or in the case of Syncables -- a wi-fi connection to another PC. 

    Best of luck -- I understand how aggravating this can be.  MindManager is unusable without full view of the bottom of the screen and both sides are already occupied so I couldn't just relocate the bar.

    --Mark

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-01-01T01:35:38+00:00

    Well you may be right - maybe it isn't a Microsoft problem, but I'm not running Minefield (I've never heard of it actually). However given that hiding the taskbar is a Windows facility I'm somewhat surprised that Microsoft would make it so vulnerable to other applications, especially since, as other people have pointed out, it is a feature that has worked successfully for many years now on previous versions of Windows.

    I still think this is something Microsoft should be looking at with some urgency.

    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 Bit - Dell XPS420 3GB

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  3. Anonymous
    2009-12-31T17:42:43+00:00

    I am not totally convinced that it is a windows 7 bug...

    I have the same 'problem' as you guys but it only occurs when I am running minefield (alpha version of firefox)

    Anyone one else running mozilla software?

    Also I performed the clean boot but has no effect on the issue.

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