Taskbar issue

Hello All

I'm hoping someone can help me with this long-standing problem with both XP
and Vista on separate laptops and every computer I've had (except I think
Win98). I'm thinking there may be no solution, but what it's worth a try.

With both of my machines, I have the taskbar (as well as other toolbars) set
out to maximum size - typically half the screen - and to auto hide. (This
makes a great program and file launcher)

The issue is that the operating system decides it wants open the taskbar on
its own from time to time on its own. Various things prompt this, maybe even
for things happening background - checking mail perhaps, printing? It seems
as though Windows decides on its own that the taskbar need to be in focus
and automatically raises it - maybe momentary or maybe as long as 10 seconds
as so, depending on what's going on. (Maybe it has to do with the system
tray items? I'm pretty sure it's a built-in and not a problem with the
machines) Since the taskbar is on top, I frequently have to drag it down to
the smallest size so I can continue to work on the stuff behind it and then,
after Windows decides it's okay to auto hide it again, drag it back up to
full size. This is really tiresome and annoying.

Does anyone have a solution or work-around? It there a way to prevent the
taskbar from popping up at all except for when I move the cursor to the
bottom of the page? I know I can uncheck the option not to have it appear on
top of other windows. But then I'll need to hide the other windows to access
the taskbar.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

For everyone's benefit, please post back to the group

"Anthony Giorgianni" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hello All
>
> I'm hoping someone can help me with this long-standing problem with both
> XP
> and Vista on separate laptops and every computer I've had (except I think
> Win98). I'm thinking there may be no solution, but what it's worth a try.
>
> With both of my machines, I have the taskbar (as well as other toolbars)
> set
> out to maximum size - typically half the screen - and to auto hide. (This
> makes a great program and file launcher)
>
> The issue is that the operating system decides it wants open the taskbar
> on
> its own from time to time on its own. Various things prompt this, maybe
> even
> for things happening background - checking mail perhaps, printing? It
> seems
> as though Windows decides on its own that the taskbar need to be in focus
> and automatically raises it - maybe momentary or maybe as long as 10
> seconds
> as so, depending on what's going on. (Maybe it has to do with the system
> tray items? I'm pretty sure it's a built-in and not a problem with the
> machines) Since the taskbar is on top, I frequently have to drag it down
> to
> the smallest size so I can continue to work on the stuff behind it and
> then,
> after Windows decides it's okay to auto hide it again, drag it back up to
> full size. This is really tiresome and annoying.
>
> Does anyone have a solution or work-around? It there a way to prevent the
> taskbar from popping up at all except for when I move the cursor to the
> bottom of the page? I know I can uncheck the option not to have it appear
> on
> top of other windows. But then I'll need to hide the other windows to
> access
> the taskbar.
>
> Thanks for any thoughts.
>
> Regards,
> Anthony Giorgianni
>
> For everyone's benefit, please post back to the group



There's another option to keep all application windows on top of the task
bar. Right click the task bar, go to Properties, click the task bar tab,
and un-check the option "keep taskbar on top of other windows".

Maybe that's more what you want; but it may still come back to 'focus' if
there's an event that triggers it, like new mail notification or any other
sys tray icon/event, but at least you can keep it "out of the way" if that's
what you're wanting.

To activate the task bar/start menu, just hit the 'Win' key on your
keyboard, that will activate it, and then just click an empty area of the
taskbar to make it remain in focus, and then when finished, click on the
application window you were working on.