scroll bar/slide bar disappears after a few seconds very anoying

Unlikely. The same thing happens in IE11 on Windows 10 Technical Preview build 10130 (latest as of 2nd June 2015) AND their new browser 'Edge' (Project Spartan) exhibits EXACTLY the same behaviour. It really does seem as if Microsoft don't really care about our issues going forward. Whether that is true or not I don't know, but it sure feels that way.

Personally I'm removing IE, Edge (Spartan) and moving to either Chrome (which I don't particularly like), Opera (a Chrome clone) or Yandex (which I haven't tried yet, but has been recommended). Unfortunately Firefox is just way too buggy for me (also as these days it also seems like a Chome clone - I may as well just get the 'original')

So, answer is basically NO it probably won't stop with Win 10.

It is now OVER a year old, and even though I have spoken to @MicrosoftHelps on Twitter, they pointed me at these forums for a 'solution'. I find it slightly disturbing when the people whom SOLD me a product which includes SUPPORT as part of that sales agreement don't seem to be able to honour that CONTRACT.

I like yourself, and all the other complainants on this site have the same issue. I have asked @MicrosoftHelps if this same behaviour will be exhibited in the new browser they are intending to include (or offer) with Windows 10. I was sent to this forum to!

It is such a simple UI thing, but yet it is either being overlooked or put off as 'one of those things we will get round to eventually', yet this type of bad functionality is the opposite of what technology is supposed to be doing. It is supposed to be making our lives easier, but instead it is introducing problems that never existed before. This doesn't happen in IE7 or IE8 for instance (can't remember about IE9 as it was on my machine so briefly), but seems to consistently happen on IE10 and 11. Basically since they introduced the disappearing scrollbars.

Developers do have a way of stopping the scrollbars disappearing, but this removes the new functionality being offered towards touch-enabled users (i.e. that they don't have to see a scrollbar taking up space that could be used for content instead).

So basically I agree with you, Microsoft, despite all their talk about 'listening to feedback' seem only to listen to the feedback THEY want to hear!

Shame really, if one can make a good product, why not do it??

In desperation I have spent hours on the phone with Microsoft support for this issue and one other - but were left unsolved despite being on the phone for 2 hours.

I got to learn one thing, and that is the fading is hardcoded into Windows 8.1

So it seem it will not be solved unless someone write an actual hack for how the windows system behaves causing the scrollbar thumb to fade.

There's one add-on to get for Firefox which gives us a nice clear scroll bar thumb for the web.

But that does not solve the problem of not being able to see where on a page we are when working with documents - and get distracted by having to go chase after that scrollbar thumb to find the line where the data is to be changed in a spreadsheet or find a specific folder or document in explorer.

In my work environment I don't want any flashy 'themes' either, it distracts me from my work but just a discreet neutral coloured background on the desktop,

Neither that is an option in Windows nowadays, it appear they think computers are for children, computer gamers and that nobody actually use them to work any more. :(

Its been over two years and they still have not fixed the bug. I cant believe a programmer made the deliberate decision to do this and Microsoft will not recognize that it is not useful to the users. It intrudes... I am changing to Google today.

Does anyone know if this annoying scroll bar nonsense will stop when Windows 10 is installed FREE to subscribers?

I'm currently using IE 11 on the Windows 10 Technical Preview.  The problem is STILL THERE.  It is simply amazing (and unacceptable) that Microsoft always ignores customer complaints.