WinXP - hide inactive icons gone AWOL

[sauton]

Hi,

Using WinXP Pro (SP1) - hide inactive icons feature has gone AWOL but only from one of the user accounts and not both so I'm guessing its something to do with that user account.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[BipolarBill]

Um, is "Hide Inactive Icons" even checked?

[Midknyte]

right click on the taskbar and hit properties. check "hide inactive icons". all done. :)

[sauton]

Oh please.....:eek:

I guess I should have given more detail -

a) I've checked that the feature is enabled (tho' I think I would have remembered switching it off in the first place).

b) I've tried unchecking, applying, re-checking and re-applying but that doesn't work.

c) I searched the Registry for 'inactive' but didn't find anything useful.

Oh for pity's sake I don't believe it - after an all day absence the little swine has just returned. Isn't Windows wonderful??? :D

[sauton]

Er, spoke to soon - its gone again!! :confused:

[sauton]

That should be too soon...

[BipolarBill]

Standard stuff -scan for virues and spyware and remember that the icons only duck away after a set time. Try setting one to be hidden all of the time to test.

[sauton]

I'll do the scans, etc. in a minute but the problem isn't limited to the icons remaining permanently visible, its the fact that the little '<' image was missing that first drew my attention to the problem.

Also, wouldn't a virus or spyware affect all accounts?

[BipolarBill]

The litte < is missing when there are no hidden icons. Why else would you need it?

[sauton]

The litte < is missing when there are no hidden icons. Why else would you need it?

Not so - it needs to be there so you can click it to reveal the hidden icons.

Also, its come back again of its own accord - bizarre...

Cheers.

[BipolarBill]

You don't understand. If there are no hidden icons, there is no need for the button and it will not be there. If you did what I asked and set one icon as always hidden, you would have seen that.

Stop playing with the icons and they will slowly be hidden.

Sigh.

[sauton]

Oh dear.

The little '<' comes and goes on its own - I haven't been 'playing with the icons'.

If I set one of the icons to 'always hide', it does bring the symbol back, and I do appreciate the logic of your argument but when I reset the icon to 'hide when inactive' the little symbol remains yet the icon is an 'active' after as it was before.

Can you see the anomaly now?

[BipolarBill]

It takes TIME for the icons to disappear.

Have you ever heard the term "A watched pot never boils."? You're making yourself nuts and you're trying to drag me with you. I don't play that.

Unsubscribing...

[Johnny Fist]

I got a pretty good laugh out of this one.

[sauton]

:( Its a real shame, because this used to be such a helpful resource. The advice wasn't always spot-on but at least the people took the problem seriously which just isn't happening for the most part here.

This is a real problem, not a big one I'll grant you, but there is a difference in the way this particular feature of WinXP is operating.

However, I'm unsubscribing and (if its possible) cancelling my membership so please don't bother responding to this message.

[Johnny Fist]

Its not a real problem...its supposed to do that!!!