Windows Xp Bug?

[Besttechie]

Hey Everyone,

Well, today, I experienced something which seemed to be some kind of "bug" in Windows XP. I like to disable the themes service on my XP machines, then today I decided to have my taskbar hide inactive icons. So I right-click the taskbar, choose properties, and tick "Hide inactive icons" Apply/Ok, but it doesn't hide them. It still looks like the normal taskbar. I usually have around 3-5 icons in the taskbar at any given time. I figured I would hide a few, but it still won't. They aren't set to always show, so that's not it. I'm running Windows XP SP2. Anyone else having this problem? If you want to test it out, disable the theme service via services.msc, reboot, then try hiding inactive icons. Let me know your findings.

Note: I just tried it on my laptop and it doesn't work their either.

B

[Matt]

Hey B

I tried it out, and everything seemed to work fine for me. It works with and without the themes enabled. I'm not sure what your problem could be, other than your icons may have some active process running in the background.

EDIT: Try going back into properties, and click 'customize' next to the check box. Does it say 'Always show' next to your icons? Try changing those to 'Hide when inactive' and see what happens.

Matt

[Besttechie]

Hey Matt,

I checked that, all are set to "Hide when inactive" This is just strange.

B

[martymas]

Hey Everyone,

Well, today, I experienced something which seemed to be some kind of "bug" in Windows XP.  I like to disable the themes service on my XP machines, then today I decided to have my taskbar hide inactive icons.  So I right-click the taskbar, choose properties, and tick "Hide inactive icons" Apply/Ok, but it doesn't hide them.  It still looks like the normal taskbar.  I usually have around 3-5 icons in the taskbar at any given time.  I figured I would hide a few, but it still won't.  They aren't set to always show, so that's not it.  I'm running Windows XP SP2.  Anyone else having this problem?  If you want to test it out, disable the theme service via services.msc, reboot, then try hiding inactive icons.  Let me know your findings. 

Note: I just tried it on my laptop and it doesn't work their either. 

B

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hi B

mine is ok

my task bar goes to classic mode

is the only difference.

i just set my volume control to always hide

and it did then i set it to always

show and it did .

normally i delete my

inactive icons in the registry but of course they come back as you make m0ore short cuts .maube if you delete those short cut icons

and stop your taskbar from getting cluttered up

if you want the delete your icons

i can post the

code

i found this theme problem earlier in the year

i installed IEtoolbar wallpaper

but it wouldnt operate

so i googled it and the fix was go and enable themes

which ide disabled for some years.

and as well it changed the task bar to classic theme

but i have that fixed now .

so i understand where your comming from

about every month i delete mine,via the registry

hope this helps

marty

[jimras]

Mine took a day or two to finally hide the inactive icons

Don't know why

Don't wanna know.

Maybe just be patient for a couple of days and see??????

[tg1911]

I have mine set as all 3, hide when inactive, always hide, always show, and they all work as they're supposed to.

Have you tried a reboot?

[Besttechie]

Yep, I rebooted. Still nothing. Weird.

B

[murtu52]

indeed. It seems you may have a few bugs...maybe a defrag could help?

[Besttechie]

I highly doubt a defrag will do anything for this problem. It's just weird. It doesn't really bother me, just was wondering if anyone else experienced it. I'm going to enable the theme service and try. I'll post back with those results.

B

[Besttechie]

Hmm, ok, I enabled the theme service and still nothing. I know this may seem weird, but maybe I don't have enough icons in the taskbar? I'll add some and then post results.

B

[Besttechie]

Nope, still nothing I added a few more so I would have 7. That should be enough. I'll leave it enabled for a few days and see if it shows up.

B

[Besttechie]

Ok, thanks to our resident Windows Guru Dave (Chappy) we got it figured out. Apparently, there is a set amount of time something like 15 mins that the icons must be inactive for it to hide them. However, if you set it to always hide, it will hide them automatically. Though now, I will be looking for the registry setting where the time is kept, so I can make it less.

B

[martymas]

Ok, thanks to our resident Windows Guru Dave (Chappy) we got it figured out.  Apparently, there is a set amount of time something like 15 mins that the icons must be inactive for it to hide them.  However, if you set it to always hide, it will hide them automatically.  Though now, I will be looking for the registry setting where the time is kept, so I can make it less. 

B

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

good one B

post that time setting when you figure it out

marty

[Matt]

Ok, thanks to our resident Windows Guru Dave (Chappy) we got it figured out.  Apparently, there is a set amount of time something like 15 mins that the icons must be inactive for it to hide them.  However, if you set it to always hide, it will hide them automatically.  Though now, I will be looking for the registry setting where the time is kept, so I can make it less. 

B

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Glad to hear its figured out. Yeah, definately post that reg. edit when you find it.

Matt

[Besttechie]

Hmm, I have been looking, have yet to find anything with specifics.

B