Something changed the behavior of the desktop

[patio]

You're not taking compliments very well this Month...

[BC_Programmer]

You're not taking compliments very well this Month...

ahh, ok... thank you, then. 

[Kryptonite]

Ctrl+Alt+Delete New Task... Explorer.exe

Are these two different options? If i install a new IE will I need to save my Favorites?

[BC_Programmer]

um- what does IE have to do with any of this?

[Kryptonite]

um- what does IE have to do with any of this?

IE is absent from the taskbar the middle of the taskbar.

i don't think "Explorer" was ever well explained. So when i hear "explorer" i think IE. i am also aware of "windows explorer" which i use often. It's been my experience that when i'm trying to help someone with computer problems that need a look at the programs, folders, and files; ask them to open WINDOWS Exolorer, they also think IE.
It's what we know that comes first to our minds.
i don't know "explorer" well enough for it to clearly pop into my head. Sorry.

i'd still like to know if their are consequences that would lead to losing something unexpected.

Maybe this will help.

Tried to post a screne shot of my desktop with 4 IE pages open, 1 Word program, 1 Paint program, and Skype. In the middle of my taskbar is one thing that never changes: "Links" My Fox Entertainment and Sports. That site is not open in any of the windows yet that's what i see, not the programs that are open.

[BC_Programmer]

right click an empty area of the taskbar.

select toolbars.

Which items here are checkmarked?

[Kryptonite]

quote author=BC_Programmer link=topic=75296.msg495871#msg495871 date=1233343211]
right click an empty area of the taskbar.

select toolbars.

Which items here are checkmarked?
[/quote]

BC P,   Here are what are checked now: Qucil Launch and Address.

That said i have checked, unchecked, refresed, and rebooted. Every button seems to work except the ones that show which windows/programs i have running.

i've taken several screen shots to post here so maybe it will by more clear what's going on but when i try using the "insert image" button here in the post reply on CH it does this: ( ) but does not open a window for me to "browse" for the images that i've taken.

This is an inconvienience that i would have never realized how problematic it can be. The only way to navigate around this is to keep every window in a less than full mode so i can click on one of the back windows if i want to bring it forward....if there are more than 3 open it's a crap shoot if i'll click the right one so then i have to drag them around to find the one i want.

i can only think of one comparison if anyone can remember back when there was only one button on a mouse. For Mac users that is always ( it's the one and biggest fault with Mac as far as i'm concerned )

So if you can tell me how to post the screen shots maybe you will see that i have about five windows open and the task bar has none of the listed.

Before i sign off here let me tell you my choices in the taskbar "manager"?

Address, Qucik launch, google desktop, links, media player, language bar, desktop manager, desktop, itunes, taskbar manager, ( all of those are in a submenu with an arrow called "Toolbars"
Just right clciking the choices are many: properties, and lock the tool bar, seperator, Task manager, seperator, show the desktop, cascade windows, The windows vertically, the windows horizontally, seperator, TOOLBARS > ( submenues mentioned above ) seperator, close the toolbar,show title, show text, open folder, view> with small icons, large icons.       That's it.

[BC_Programmer]

the insert Image bbcode requires you to upload the file to a file hosting service. if the image is small enough, you could try attaching it. If not, upload it to a image host- Imageshack, photobucket, etc...

Just to clarify your situation- can you see the buttons that are on the taskbar and are unable to click them, or are they simply non-existent? I take it it kept it up after deselecting the Address bar toolbar?

[Kryptonite]

Just to clarify your situation- can you see the buttons that are on the taskbar and are unable to click them, or are they simply non-existent? I take it it kept it up after deselecting the Address bar toolbar?

BC,

BC: "Just to clarify your situation- can you see the buttons that are on the taskbar and are unable to click them, or are they simply non-existent? I take it it kept it up after deselecting the Address bar toolbar?"

Kryp: No, not exactly. Yes i can see buttons and they all work. However, there is that middle part of the taskbar that shows "open windows" "programs" such as IE
( IE is one of the windows of which more than one will usually be open...so for instance i am now writing to you in CH.com, that window is now open and fills my laptop screen from left to right and up and down to the taskbar itself. Behind it is another open IE window with "dictionary.com", and yet another with "wiki.com" ) also open is wordpad, and the game freecell.

i think it is fair to say that this part of the taskbar and/or the name for that specific functionality is not well known enough for someone to recognize the problem....so my guess is that this "problem" doesn't happen often.

In that "middle" part of the taskbar to the right of the start button and the quick launch section and the systray on the extreme right, there has been and IMHO should be a "buttons" with an icon of a KING with the words FREE CELL, a Document icon and the words WordPad and Document, with 3 IE windows open i can see the IE icon with "Wiki....", and Dict...", and "CH...." providing me with the ability to toggle back and forth between windows, pages, programs.   THAT/THOSE buttons do not work now, they don't even appear!

Hence it can be said that "they don't work" i can't even see them!

[Kryptonite]

i found a fix.

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

Here is a partial list of fixes:

Taskbar

Taskbar is Missing
Lock Taskbar Greyed Out
Minimized Programs Missing  <--------- this one restored that nameless part that i've been trying to explain.
Stuck in Classic View *
Reduce Size of Buttons
Restore to XP Default *  (clickable)
Toolbars Greyed Out or Missing

[BC_Programmer]

Good to hear it was fixed. Sad to hear we've been talking about the same thing.


It's called the taskbar. Minimized programs are shown on the taskbar. There is no "minimized programs" bar, thats the main feature OF the taskbar, so it isn't given a name.

Now one would reckon that that doesn't make any sense, given the above fix lists "missing taskbar". Well, the taskbar refers to the entire thing- the active programs list (IE- buttons on the taskbar representing each open application). so a missing taskbar refers to a missing start button, quick-launch bar, etc...) is a entity ON the taskbar that IS commonly used, and it likely the most accessed feature of the taskbar.

Trying to describe your problems using your own terminology was the main reason I refrained from posting- since you refuted all statements made as to your situation, and yet the fix you applied merely proves that what we had proposed earlier was indeed the issue.


In fact, reading the fix script proves that the solution was actually quite simple: unlock the taskbar and move the grippers for your quick-launch bar  so that the quick-launch bar isn't consuming the entire taskbar. In fact, if you had accepted the fact that what we were talking about is indeed the main area of the task bar, and followed through with the "Unlocking" of the taskbar at which point I would have likely suggested the use of the gripper bars to resize the quick-launch area so as to make the taskbar (open program list, in this context) more visible.