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Rant

Disappearing System Tray

May 6, 2012 3:39AM PDT

How come my system tray keeps disappearing? I have a Dell 4700 computer running the Windows XP operating system.

Discussion is locked

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The entire tray?
May 6, 2012 3:42AM PDT
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Disappearing System Tray
May 6, 2012 3:46AM PDT

In Taskbar Properties do you have, Auto-hide the taskbar checked?

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Disappearing System Tray
May 6, 2012 12:20PM PDT

The auto-hide in the taskbar is not checked and the lock taskbar is checked. This problem is intermittent. The entire system tray disappears from the start button to the clock.

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Disappearing System Trya
May 6, 2012 2:31PM PDT

None of those threads in the link applies to my case. My system tray is there then it disappears and this happens occasionally. This problem is not about hiding the taskbar.

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We need to define exactly what vanishes.
May 6, 2012 2:35PM PDT

The bar or just the tray?

We know if there is a crash, Explorer will restart the bar but the notification area may not repopulate.

This is a known behavior so keep writing and we'll look at other causes including that one that has never been fixed.
Bob

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Disappearing System Tray
May 7, 2012 12:35AM PDT

The whole bottom part of the screen from the Start button to the clock disappears. The computer does not crash. I also noted that, occasionally the mouse pointer disappears. I did a Windows XP repair but that doesn't seem to help for both the system tray and mouse pointer disappearances.

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Taskbar Repair Tool
May 7, 2012 12:49AM PDT
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That's the start bar alright.
May 7, 2012 2:43AM PDT

It's a known issue and has been with us for many years. The OS didn't crash but the start bar which is part of the system appears to have crashed.

Try the repair tool but given so little detail and how most would not look into HIJACKTHIS to find out all that is running I'd start learning that tool.

Again, this sounds like the old but but as a test, create a new user and test there.

Microsoft has made it very clear they don't offer any support when the other user account works. As witness and to vet my answer read this one -> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/fix-a-corrupted-user-profile?SignedIn=1

You may find it amazing that their fix is to abandon the old account.
Bob

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Disappearing System Tray
May 7, 2012 11:13AM PDT

"Hijackthis" looks like a spyware program. I'm using System Mechanics to scan my computer.
There must be a better way to resolve this problem other than creating another profile. But if that's the only way then I'll give it a try.
Thanks.

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I'm out of here.
May 7, 2012 3:04PM PDT

Sorry but after system mechanic breaks too many machines I have to be honest here in that I don't think I can help you now.

Hijackthis is a tool that I use to see what's running on startup. I've found it very useful when I need to see what's running to sniff out incompatible apps. But as I noted, not many will want to do the work. I find they usually try registry or system mechanics, fail and then reload the OS.

Sorry but as this app is now in use, I can't offer more.
Bob

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Disappearing System Tray
May 8, 2012 12:09AM PDT

Thanks for your help.