The programme buttosn on my taskbar have disappeared, and none of my
open tasks are being displayed and I cant get them back. I have tryed
going back to a system restore point but windows wont allow me to
system restore. Using windows xp

---

Clarification of Question by jwelch-ga on 07 Apr 2005 16:54 PDT

I mean the little rectangular boxes across the task bar which
contain the names of the programmes currently open

---

Request for Question Clarification by alienintelligence-ga on 07 Apr 2005 17:44 PDT

Hi jwelch,

They stay gone even when you reboot?

And then when you open new programs
their associated icons do not appear
where 'open programs' show on the 
taskbar?

Can you recall anything you might
have installed or changed that 
could have caused this?

Do you have an active Virus/Trojan
scanner? Have you scanned for any
Adware?

thanks,
-AI

---

Request for Question Clarification by hummer-ga on 07 Apr 2005 18:55 PDT

Hi jwelch,

A few ideas - 

1) Log off and then log on again.

2) Try moving your mouse to the very bottom edge of the screen and see
if the taskbar pops up. If not, move it to all of the other edges and
see if the taskbar pops up.

3) Check your registry to make sure the following is set to zero. 

Start > Run > Regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion >
Policies > Explorer

"NoTrayItemsDisplay"=dword:00000000

4) My Network Places
Left pane >  choose "Hide UPnP Devices"

Please let me know if that helps.
Good luck,
hummer

---

Request for Question Clarification by alienintelligence-ga on 07 Apr 2005 20:08 PDT

Hey Humm...

I believe the questioner is
missing the icons that appear
in the middle of the task bar
field, the icons that represent
open/running programs, and not
tray items that appear next to
the clock. It would also seem
that their task bar is not
hidden.

Jwelch please correct me if
I'm wrong.

-AI

---

Clarification of Question by jwelch-ga on 08 Apr 2005 02:09 PDT

Hi all,
Yes I do mean the middle bit not the tray icons, (the tray icons are
all being displayed normally)
They do stay gone when I reboot, I have installed no new software or
hardware, have run my updated virus check and adware and spyware, but
still I cant get them to come back.

I turned my computer off and they were there, then when I turned it
back on later they had gone.

Any help much appreciated.
Kind regards,

Jon

do you mean "programs" button in the start bar?

i hope this help you -->
http://malektips.com/windows_xp_taskbar_-_toolbar_-_start_menu_help_and_tips.html

No I mean the little rectangular boxes across the task bar which
contain the names of the programmes currently open

I'm having the same problem ... missing taskbar icons/buttons (the
rectangular ones in the middle of the TB) ... additionally my svchost
process is maxing out the system ... have run McAfee virus scan ...
and it says I am clean ... this is quite aggravating ...

I am haveing the same problem and I havent found the answer yet.  It
started with a program that accompanied a screen saver.  The virus
attacked my Norton antivirus first and disabled it.  It also kept me
from opening norton, and prevented access to all Symantec.com web
pages.  I downloaded AVG free antivirus and it found Bagle worm.  It
removed it.  After that, I lost the taskbar buttons.  I also found a
registry key called StuckRects2 and deleted it bacause it looked like
another problem
http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?threadid=100166&highlight=taskbar
 that appeared in 2002.

It happened to me, too. I still don't know *what* happened, but I was
able to recover from it.

First, make sure both RegEdit and the Task Manager are running.
From the Task Manager, kill "explorer.exe".
In RegEdit, select
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer"
in the left pane. Rename the key to "Explorer.old"

Then, from the Task Manager start Explorer again (File::New Task...)

You will loose all your explorer/start menu/taskbar settings but at
least you get the machine back...

It is left as an exercise for the reader to determine what difference
between the Explorer.old and the recreated Explorer keys caused this
behavior...

Actually managed to fix this using a tool I got from this website:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

I highly recommend for anyone with the same problem, fixed it easily!