I used to be able to see items in my task bar for programs that were running and I could click on them to switch between programs. Lately, though, those items aren't there. The only way I can figure to switch between programs is to use the task manager. How do I get my taskbar "running programs" buttons back?
The task bar is a busy place, and there are lots of things on it; the start button and menu, the quick launch bar (if you have that enabled) and on the far right, the notification area. Most all of those are configurable to some degree, but the area where buttons representing your "currently running programs" is not. It's always supposed to be there, there's no way to turn it off.
As a result, no way to turn it on should it disappear.
Well, no obvious way.
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Unfortunately, I have gotten reports of the "running programs" area going away. I have no real idea of how it happens, but, clearly, it does.
Restoring, while not obvious, is not hard. It appears to only need a registry change and a restart of Windows Explorer.
Kelly Theriot, a Microsoft MVP, has a set of tweaks available at Kelly's Korner. They're fairly light on documentation, and perhaps even a bit techie if you want to understand them. On the tweaks page scroll down to item #240, and click on "Programs Aren't Minimized in the Taskbar". That will run, or download, a "vbs" (VBScript) program which will, after confirming, reset the Taskbar's properties. Note that several other aspects of the Taskbar will also be reset to their default states, but you should get your "running programs" area back.
Related:
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Ask Leo! - My TaskBar is too small to be useful, what can I do?
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Ask Leo! - The task bar on my windows XP machine has become hidden, how do I get it back?
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Kelly Theriot - Kelly's Korner.
Article C2376 - June 21, 2005
Thank you SOO much!!
Posted by: Thomas at March 28, 2009 12:29 PMMy taskbar has been failing me for over a year now!
I looked for a solution when it broke down, but I couldn't fine one, and just decided to get used to my problem. If only I had found this webpage then!!
Thank heavens that worked. So easy!!
Posted by: Charis at March 28, 2009 4:38 PMLEO, Thanx a lot! After a week of painful ALT+TABs my taskbar is back!!!! U R D king!
Posted by: Liz at March 30, 2009 10:25 PML
Leo, awesome advice. I'm stumped as to why this isn't working when it hasn't in the past. Only one program doesn't minimize to the taskbar - WordPerfect. IF I Alt-Tab it once I can minimize and recover thereafter. I downloaded and ran the tool but it didn't help. Any other ideas?
Thanks for years of great great advice!
Posted by: Kiki at May 14, 2009 1:49 PMWORKS PERFECTLY, have no idea why this happens. Thanks.
Posted by: Gabe at May 15, 2009 5:58 PMThank you so much for your solution! It worked. My problem solved. But, it erase the Microsoft Office shortcut bar in the upper side of the screen. And I must reconfigure it in Microsoft Office Setting program.
Oh,yeah, before I forgot, for NATE who posted about Kelly's corner tweak page and encountered with "a compression problem". I have the solution. This problem occurred when your browser unable to extract some compressed sites. Mozilla Firefox and Netscape have this problem. The solution is change your browser! To Opera or Internet Explorer which both support extraction process, and reenter the site. I hope this info useful.
Posted by: William Surya Permana at June 18, 2009 11:04 PMMan, I hate windows but still dont have the same resources in Linux and a good Mac its way too expensive for me....
Thanks God there is blogs like yours to help dummy programmer like me to fix this trash windows sys.
Thanks alot!
Posted by: Taniguchi, J. at June 20, 2009 4:05 AMThanks Leo, the fix of registry worked very well.
Posted by: Ayman at July 22, 2009 2:51 AMI am glad that I cam by your useful page.
Thanks again :)
I ran the script and it worked fine until I rebooted the computer and the taskbar goes back to the same. I re-run the script and all is well. Somehow the settings are getting changed when I reboot. What is happening?
Posted by: azscorp at August 13, 2009 3:40 PMazscorp
This is not working for me. They show up for like half a second after I run the script and then are gone again. Anybody have any suggestions?
Posted by: Kelly at September 8, 2009 12:50 PM