Windows XP toolbar woes

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madboyv1

Posts: 1,877   +882
I have some issues with my Start menu toolbar. I have the quicklaunch toolbar open, next to it the primary toolbar that containing the usual list of active programs, etc. then below it, it seems I have a mirror of said primary toolbar, and below that is an empty toolbar. Neither of these show up on the toolbar list. Oh, and I have the language toolbar on the right, but thats besides the point. All toolbars are movable at least.

See linked image.

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/2655/egagrgerheh8.jpg

Any ideas how to remove these?
 
Place your cursor over some of the empty space in the top toolbar. Right Click.

Move your cursor to Toolbars in the menu that appears. Is that the toolbars list you mentioned?

Repeat the process on EACH of the 3 toolbars you are getting.

Why don't you present an image of the toolbar list you get, one for each of the 3 toolbars you have. that might show something as well.
 
Yes that is the toolbars list I mentioned. the duplicate bar and the empty bar have the same options (or lack thereof) and the only two toolbars that show up as being enabled are the quick launch toolbar and the language toolbar.

as for images... well don't expect to get too much, but here ya go.

for the quick launch toolbar:
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3127/egagrgerh2ij0.jpg

for the top active taskbar:
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/3134/egagrgerh3zv7.jpg

for the duplicate active taskbar:
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/3565/egagrgerh4hh8.jpg

for the empty toolbar:
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2569/egagrgerh5px2.jpg

for the language toolbar #1:
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5359/egagrgerh6lr2.jpg

for the language toolbar #2:
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/3785/egagrgerh7tq1.jpg
 
Some suggestions -

since there must be toolbars specific for each user, and possibly one for 'all' users, it may be somehow you have got three toolbar registry entries combined into one (sharing the same registry id in other words).

try dragging one toolbar on top of another - do they coalesce, or refuse to join or what?

I contributed to another thread with a toolbar problem - the pop-up assists for the notification toolbar (the one with the clock in), had gone behind the toolbar. I also found one at work that had done the same thing. Easily fixed, I just set and reset the toolbar property boxes. But this suggests to me either (a) a recent MS update has wrecked things (b) there is a novel piece of malware circulating. We should all watch this one closely.
 
First of all, this 'toolbar' is called the Taskbar: this consist of:
Start button to the left> Quick Launch Toolbar and the Notification Area all the way to the right. Additional Toolbars can be added to the Taskbar using a right click on the Taskbar> Toolbars and checking any you want to show.

Of course, Start is obvious. Quick Launch hold shortcuts to programs and apps you use frequently. The Notification Area has icons for running programs or processes such as the anti-virus program. It also holds the Volume icon, network/connection icons and any other you have designated 'always show'.

The mid-section of the Taskbar shows all active or minimized Windows. The Taskbar should be kept locked. Yours is not. Right click on the Taskbar> check 'lock the Taskbar'. This is probably why your is so misshaped!

When the Taskbar is unlocked, the series of 'dots' appears at each end, called a handle. To move or condense, you hold the left mouse button down on the 'handle' and move up, down, right or left.

You show two 'menu boxes' above the Taskbar. I don't know why they're visible- they should only display when you right click. If you notice on any of them, the 'lock the Taskbar' is not checked.

I don't know why you have a color palette here either. That is usually only displayed on Paint or Word. You need to get rid of all this junk so you can see what you need to get to. I strongly suggest to right click on the Taskbar> Toolbars> remove the check by "everything" except the Quick Launch toolbar. You don't need 'toolbars' for all this stuff cluttering up the screen!

You also have an usually large number of icons in the Notification Area by the clock. Most of these will be representing programs, apps that started at boot and are running in the background. You don't need "anything" starting on boot "except" the anti-virus program, firewall if you have one, touch-pad if it's a laptop and network process if you have a network set up. Nothing else!
 
Duh!

It just hit me. You don't really have "three toolbars". You have one tool bar that somehow got resized!

Try the following
  • Unlock the toolbar
  • Slowly move your cursor (toolbar must be unlocked when doing this!) to just between the top of the topmost spot of the toolbars and your desktop area. You should see your cursor icon change to a vertical up/down arrow.
  • When the up/down arrow appears, click and drag the cursor to resize your toolbar. Pull it down to reduce the number of tool bar lines you see
  • Get it where you want and re-lock the toolbar
 
His Taskbar is already unlocked- that's why i got re-sized! Check the images he left.
 
firstly, I appreciate the explanation bobbye, but I do know how to work the taskbar (for the most part anyways, elsewise I wouldn't ask for help here); its name escaped me and I am rather embarrassed for that.

The Color palate was infact MSPAINT; I was copying the screenshots into that and resizing them for this thread. Forgive me for the confusion.

Yes I know I have a lot of stuff in my system tray, but a majority are there for a reason, so you don't need to tell me I need to remove stuff. ;)

I keep my taskbar either two or three lines long, that is normal. What is not normal is that the task area is being duplicated, and there is one "toolbar" that doesn't do anything.

It only does this on that account. The main account I use does not have this problem.
 
Ah ! the more we probe, the more is revealed !!

First the multiple line taskbar is NOT the fault, it's how he wants it, so most of what people are thinking it could be is wrong.

So the question now is the duplication of toolbars....in the one TALL taskbar....

NOW, madboy, if you right-click the taskbar and select 'toolbars', what is in the list, and what is ticked in the list?
 
Okay, madboyv, no problem. But I strongly suggest you keep the Taskbar locked. The images you left show it unlocked.

There are many users who don't realize the significance of the icons in the Notification Area. So I frequently drop a tip about them. My philosophy on this and any other computer board is that the user can take what they want and ignore the rest.

I find this board in particular difficult to assist because rarely does the person asking the question provide system information.

Merry Christmas!
 
Try going into the Task Manager (ctrl-alt-delete) then Stop the process explorer.exe. Afterwards, restart it by typing 'explorer.exe' under new process. See if they return.
 
madboyv1, don't get bent out of shape! First, not all users are aware of the 'lock' function and the problems that can occur if Taskbar or toolbar are not locked. As for information I''d like to see when a question is presented: here's a template available to users on another forum. Once the user fills it in, then the info is displayed whenever that user starts a thread:

Manufacturer:
Model:
Desktop or Notebook:
CPU:
Installed RAM:
Operating System:
Disk Drives:
Optional Info: Browser & version, Email program, peripherals, video card, etc.

Sometimes what we see here makes a difference in a reply. Obviously, 'all' the info won't apply on 'all' the questions, but I'd like to see it used on all boards!

For instance- heat may be more of an issue in a laptop. The installed RAM may have more significance in 'memory' problems.

I frequently check, but rarely see this information here in the users profile.
 
I don't see how I am bent out of shape, I was just re-affirming that it was good advice. No matter...

Manufacturer: IBM
Model: Thinkpad T43p (Pre Full Lenovo sell out)
Desktop or Notebook: Notebook
CPU: Intel Pentium M Centrino 2.00 Ghz
Installed RAM: 2GB installed RAM
Operating System: Windows XP Professional w/Service Pack 2 (build 2600)

Disk Drives: Primary: 80 GB (65 GB accessible by boot partition), Secondary: 80 GB (75 GB accessible by boot partition), 720 GB removable storage.

Primary Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7.0.5730.11 with IE Pro add-on ver 1.2
Secondary Browsers: Opera version 9.25, Mozilla Firefox version 2.0.0.11

Primary POP3 email client: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5.0.13

Video Card: ATI Mobility FireGL V3200

Miscellaneous Peripherals: 2.4x Ultrabay Slim DVD Burner, External 16x USB 2.0 DVD Burner, Audigy 2ZS notebook sound card, IBM Thinkpad Dock II.

I would not think you really need much more than this.

edit: by request some of this information is now included in the system specs portion of my profile.
 
Bobbye said:
I find this board in particular difficult to assist because rarely does the person asking the question provide system information.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree with that. Have to grin though, since you haven't filled in your own user profile...
 
Hi guys!

I have the following problem, maybe someone can help out:

On my Windows XP Pro I have 2 user accounts. On one account everything works OK and this is how the good one works:

I right click on the XP taskbar and choose Toolbars and then I can see a list of things such as Desktop, Quick Launch, NetSpeedMonitor, Nero Search, Language Bar, Links, Windows Media Player, Address. Some of them are TICKED some not.

On the other user account similar things should be in the list of that 'Toolbars', but recently things disappeared from that list only Quick Launch and Desktop is visible. If I put something there for example I enable the Language Bar in the Control Panel then that item appears in this list ticked. Fine, but once I untick, it disappears from the list (instead of staying there unticked). It's possible to make the language bar present from the Control Panel, but I dont care about Language Bar. The problem is that I can not enable the important items such alternative ways like NetSpeedMonitor.

So this just happened a few days ago and I also noticed this issue on another computer. Maybe this issue came with a Windows Update...

Any idea how to reset the toolbars to normal behavior so not only Desktop and Quick Launch appear there? (Registry maybe)

Happy New Year!
 
gbhall said:
Absolutely agree with that. Have to grin though, since you haven't filled in your own user profile...
Click to expand...

If I ask a question, you'll see my specs. If I reply, you don't need my specs! So far, I have only replied.
 
sangean99 said:
Hi guys!

I have the following problem, maybe someone can help out:

On my Windows XP Pro I have 2 user accounts. On one account everything works OK and this is how the good one works:

I right click on the XP taskbar and choose Toolbars and then I can see a list of things such as Desktop, Quick Launch, NetSpeedMonitor, Nero Search, Language Bar, Links, Windows Media Player, Address. Some of them are TICKED some not.

On the other user account similar things should be in the list of that 'Toolbars', but recently things disappeared from that list only Quick Launch and Desktop is visible. If I put something there for example I enable the Language Bar in the Control Panel then that item appears in this list ticked. Fine, but once I untick, it disappears from the list (instead of staying there unticked). It's possible to make the language bar present from the Control Panel, but I dont care about Language Bar. The problem is that I can not enable the important items such alternative ways like NetSpeedMonitor.

So this just happened a few days ago and I also noticed this issue on another computer. Maybe this issue came with a Windows Update...

Any idea how to reset the toolbars to normal behavior so not only Desktop and Quick Launch appear there? (Registry maybe)

Happy New Year!
Click to expand...

I think you are trying to misuse the Toolbar function. The more Toolbars you have, the more cluttered your Taskbar is going to get. The purpose of the Quick Launch Toolbar is to hold shortcuts to programs or app you access frequently. Create s shortcut using a right click> Send To> Desktop to create a shortcut.

Once it is there, you have a choice> leave it on the Desktop for easy access OR drag it into the Quick Launch Toolbar. Now, instead of having another Toolbar, you have 1 icon.
 
I am not misusing anything. The things that appear in that list got there automatically, it was not me who put them there. You can see in the attached pic.

toolbars.jpg


This same or most of the same list should appear for the other user, but only Asztal (desktop) and Gyorsinditas (Quick Launch) are listed for her.
 
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