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General discussion

Vista tasbar corrupted and strange behaviour

by mettlemickey May 25, 2007 10:42PM PDT

Hello, can anyone help me?

I've recently upgraded to Windows Vista Home Premium and seem to be having problems with my taskbar. After ive been using my pc for a while the taskbar seems to go corrupt, the icons toward the left (just to the right of the start button) seem to shift to the left, as if behind the start button. The icons on the right (clock, AVG, volume etc) disappear completely. Also, once this happens, if i click on any minimised applications, the wrong application maximises (another minimized one as opposed to one that wasnt open). When the system is doing this, if i click on the start button, sometimes i can see my programs and menus etc but if i click on any of them nothing happens, other times there is just nothing in the start menu, its completely blank.

I've updated and run both AVG 7.5 and Ad Aware to make sure im virus and spyware free, but still seem to be getting the problem.

If it helps im running an AMD 64 x2 3800+ with 2GB of RAM.

Can anyone help, any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Discussion is locked

27 Posts
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Initial attempts...
by John.Wilkinson May 26, 2007 1:09PM PDT

1.) For a temporary solution, try launching Task Manager (press ctrl + shift + esc) and on the Processes tab End Task on explorer.exe. Then go File->New Task and type in explorer.exe. That should reload the Start Menu, taskbar, etc. for a quick-fix.

2.) If this just recently started, try performing a System Restore back to a time before the problem first occurred.

3.) Press Windows + R and type in sfc /scannow (with the space) and have your Vista DVD handy. It will scan and replace any system files that are corrupt.

4.) For fun, boot into Safe Mode (press F8 during boot) and see if the same problem creeps up when only limited startup applications and processes are running.

5.) Have you happened to install any new themes, desktop enhancement software (ex WindowBlinds), etc. on your computer?

6.) Does switching to the Classic Windows theme have any effect? It could be a graphical issue stemming from Aero Glass.

Let us know.
John

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Thanks
by mettlemickey May 30, 2007 6:53AM PDT

Hi John,

Thanks for sending through your instructions so quickly. Bizzarly i havent experienced the problem since i made the original post, so i havent tried any of your suggestions yet. But ive made a note and if/when they do (whats the betting they do now ive said this!) i'll run through them.

Thanks Again

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Re: RM clock responsible?
by keff85 Jun 15, 2007 6:41PM PDT

Hi, same problem here:
In one of forums linked here, someone mentioned that new RMclock may cause it - it may be the case, as I have just done a clean install of Vista to get rid of the problem, and it ic corrupte again, even though only system utility now installed and running is RMclock.

1) works, but corruption starts soon again


3.) Press Windows + R and type in sfc /scannow
Cool! I thought MS has abandoned the repair in Vista, didn't know this!

5.) Have you happened to install any new themes, desktop enhancement software (ex WindowBlinds), etc. on your computer?
- another thing in common: uxtheme.dll patch to allow unsigned themes

6.) Does switching to the Classic Windows theme have any effect? It could be a graphical issue stemming from Aero Glass.
Nope, it's corrupted even in classic mode

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Nvidia video card?
by mitchflorida Jun 16, 2007 12:24AM PDT

Is this an Nvidia problem? I just updated my video driver, will see if that makes any difference.

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maybe it is Ares
by nihad_awidat-21772173822586936090116773726638 Jun 16, 2007 2:16AM PDT

I dont think so because i have Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Graphic card(Chipset) HP laptop dv6126ea, i think it is connected to Ares p2p because when i uninstalled it and installed an older version 1.9.9 i didnt have this problem since!but still testing

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Definately Ares
by vampyr1969 May 13, 2008 6:00AM PDT

i've been having the same problem with my new Dell laptop - after i try to run a file in Ares 2.09 my Explorer gets corrupted and i have to stop the Explorer process and restart it.

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nope, same problems with ATI
by keff85 Jun 16, 2007 9:30PM PDT

It doesn't seem to be related to video card (corruption even in classic mode sone through GDI, and restarting explorer wouldn't stop problems with GPU, imho.)

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windows vista business
by nihad_awidat-21772173822586936090116773726638 May 27, 2007 2:12PM PDT

I've got the very same problem running a windows vista business on a HP dv6126 laptop

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Windows Explorer
by mitchflorida Jun 4, 2007 8:26AM PDT

I also have the same problem with an HP AMD 4200 . Windows explorer becomes corrupted after a few hours. I either have to stop and restart explorer, or restart Windows all together.


It is really a nuisance and it happens every day after a few hours, sometimes after the computer has been put on sleep mode for a bit.


Help!

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I've a exactly same problem!
by campwash Jun 5, 2007 9:28AM PDT

My system is Dell 520 dualcore, ati 1300 pro. I thought it's video card problem, dell replaced it but still got the problem. I'm pretty sure it's Vista problem, serched in microsoft.com and looks like they don't know it yet... anyone can help this weird display problem??

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video driver
by mitchflorida Jun 16, 2007 9:57AM PDT

I think it might be the driver for your video card. See if the manufacturer has an updated version . . or you may have to wait until they do.

I know that Nvidia just updated their Vista driver earlier this month, and it solved the problem I have had since I installed Vista originally.

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not video driver
by mitchflorida Jun 18, 2007 11:27PM PDT

oops, problem still not solved. nvidia driver update didn't help.

Do we all have weatherbug?

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this is a snapshot for the problem
by nihad_awidat-21772173822586936090116773726638 Jun 12, 2007 12:59AM PDT
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Do we all run Microsoft Flight Simulator X?
by campwash Jun 14, 2007 10:46AM PDT

Do we all run Microsoft Flight Simulator X? I do and maybe it's the cause because it changes display scheme and looks like I'm getting this symptom after I play this game.

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FSX
by mopscare42 Jun 14, 2007 11:50AM PDT

I run Flight simulator X 2 or 3 times a week and have never noticed any problem.
When I first installed the program on Windows Vista Home Premium it told me that when running the program it would re-set the video scheme back to Vista Home basic otherwise no Aero, but would re-set back to normal after I closed the program. So far it has always done that without any problems.
I will keep an eye on it just in case I am missing something.

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:/
by teo_NY Jun 15, 2007 7:51AM PDT

Did we all install Flight Simulator X and then deleted it? Maybe the problem stays after uninstalling the game... Or maybe not.

I've got the same f***ing problem on my Acer 2.0 GHz laptop with 1024 DDR2 and Ati Radeon 1100 128MB with ATI Catalyst updated to 7.2. That problem is so annoying, so many of us have it and microsoft knows just nothing about it! Try to look up the solution on support.microsoft.com: under 'vista taskbar problem' you'll find just nothing.

Anyway, I hope somebody will come up with the solution...
:/

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Vista tasbar corrupted and strange behaviour
by peterbin Jun 17, 2007 6:08AM PDT

And I have the same damned problem.
I run Vista Ultimate with NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT.
At http://thevistaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=11094 they have the same trouble.
What is going on...?
I haven't Ares, haven't Flight Simulator or RM Clock running.
Restart of Explorer helps.
And until now it happened only if display resolution is more than 1024x768. But I didn't check yet 1024x768 for more than few hours. Decrease of color resolution from 32 bits to 16 didn't help.
I didn't try yet to replace video card. M.b. there is sense to get 512MB card?

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For teo_NY...
by John.Wilkinson Jun 17, 2007 8:17AM PDT

Please watch the language as this is a PG-rated forum. If the language outweighs the content's benefits it may disappear.

John

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Downgraded RM Clock and everything is OK
by keff85 Jun 17, 2007 10:24AM PDT

Hi everyone, if you use latest RM Clock (beta), try downgrading to version 2.2, i did and the corruption is gone!

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how about the gadgets not from Microsoft?
by campwash Jun 17, 2007 2:08PM PDT

I've installed dual core monitor and weather bug for gadget and both are not from microsoft and have that problem started, I guess.
Just deleted partition and reinstalled Vista all the way from start and been 2 days and don't have the problem yet. Do we all have weather bug or dual core monitor?

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(NT) I have both but without problems.
by John.Wilkinson Jun 17, 2007 2:09PM PDT
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taskbar corruption solution.
by fullsize4x4dotnet Jun 27, 2007 6:16AM PDT
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taskbar corruption solution
by mitchflorida Jun 29, 2007 11:21AM PDT

Thanks for the tip! I downloaded this yesterday and it seemed to solve the problem for me. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks!

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The Solution
by arnabmit Dec 4, 2007 5:56PM PST

This version of Ares was launched before the official release of Vista. It used a beta API to create the "OsTheme" theme which gave Ares a vista look even in XP. This beta API causes a buffer overflow in the GDI module of Vista and causes the desktop and Taskbar to act wierd.

The solution is simple:

Open Ares -> Control Panel -> Skin -> Change the Theme from 'OsTheme' to 'General'.

Ares will then start using the OS API and not the beta API built into Ares.

Voila! Issue Resolved!

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ive done that and still not working.
by kingkeith1st Jan 11, 2008 8:24PM PST

I have had this problem from the day i got vista and i have always used ares. I came accross this forum and tried what you suggested and still it happens. Is there anything else that may cause the toolbar to freeze and display the message Explorer has stopped working.


AAAHHHHHH pulling my hair out....

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Vista Taskbar Currupted and Strange Behaviour
by vegetax4 Feb 13, 2008 3:44AM PST

Hello friend the solution to you problem will be to uninstall ARES for some reason the P2P software causes problems with vista. I'am a computer prgrammer and am currenlty working on a fix for the i will post if i fix the problem other wise uninstall ares get something else hope this helps

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task bar corrupted
by leonavas Feb 19, 2008 1:26AM PST

i'm wondering if you have Ares Installed on your computer, if you have it then i recomend you to unistall it since is having problems with windows vista, you will notice the diference once you have unistall ares from your computer, the task bar will be normal again

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