[thedarkprince]

Hi All,

There must be a simple explanation on how to correct this but I can't find it so it's bugging the [bleep] out of me!

Basically... I can't right-click on any programs on my task bar in XP, also, when i go to click on a different program to the one I am looking at it just flashes and doesn't actually bring that program to the fore. If I want to change programs I have to click on the program, click it again to minimise and the click it a third time to maximise it. This grows tiring very quickly!

Any suggestions?

Cheers,
tdp

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You must LEFT-click a minimised application on the taskbar to open it in a window (not right-click)

Right-clicking it gives you a context-menu (Restore/Maximise/Close etc.)

That's all normal behaviour.

[phillip22]

You must LEFT-click a minimised application on the taskbar to open it in a window (not right-click)

Right-clicking it gives you a context-menu (Restore/Maximise/Close etc.)

That's all normal behaviour.

[thedarkprince]

Perhaps I should have been a little clearer.....

Basically... I can't right-click on any programs on my task bar in XP, also, when i go to click on a different program to the one I am looking at it just flashes and doesn't actually bring that program to the fore. If I want to change programs I have to click on the program, click it again to minimise and the click it a third time to maximise it. This grows tiring very quickly!

That bold bit above refers to a LEFT click.

[thedarkprince]

Rather oddly this is now intermittently affecting me. Can be good for most of the day and then it just goes t*ts up.

Anyone got any ideas?

tdp

[SlickSwick]

I am having the exact same issue. It's really bugging me, and to the only think that I can think of that has changed recently is a couple of Windows Updates and a Firefox update. SpyBot and Antivirus come back clean. And I'm the paranoid type, so I'm not just opening or installing crap willy nilly. Oh, and I also installed active-sync for my Samsung i760.

[SlickSwick]

going through my process list, I killed the Google updater and then I discovered that there was an instance of Spybot still running under the administrator account (i had it scheduled to run using admin credentials in the middle of the night) because it was running under admin, it went un-noticed as it doesn't show on my screen. I killed that process as well and now my taskbar and programs are working as they should.

[BigDogDaddy]

I have also experienced this problem from time to time. Usually rebooting my PC corrects the problem, but this morning it did not help. Like one of the previous posters, the only system change I have made recently was a Firefox update that I did yesterday. I searched for a solution, but could not find one. I tried restarting Firefox in safe mode, but that did not help the problem. Then I stumbled on a solution almost by accident. One of the symptoms of this problem was that while I could still right-click items in my system tray, if I did not then select an item from the context menu, it would not go away.

In an effort to remove this context menu, I set my taskbar to autohide, then removed the setting again. The simple act of saving the taskbar properties, must have reset the taskbar as the problem of the flashing taskbar applications and a inability to right-click them went away immediately.

[mrsmikeboy]

Joined just to answer this. Maddening but, yes, a simple thing I finally tried. Go to your monitor controls and reposition your screen upwards. Taskbar was hanging too low.