Taskbar has disappeared!

C

carmenamaral

New Member
Hi, I just joined this forum b/c all of a sudden my taskbar disappeared. I stupidly dowloaded a free trial of a game from bigfishgames.com and when the trial ran out, I uninstalled it. Well, I don't think the uninstall was complete because the shortcut is still on my desktop although it's not on my control panel>uninstall menu.

Well anyway, since I tried the uninstall my taskbar is gone. It's not an auto-hide error, I checked. I ran a Norton Anti-Virus Scan and ntohing came up. My windows start icon is still there, just nothing on the taskbar.

I can find open windows from task manager, but that's it. I can't see my internet status, battery power, NOTHING.

How do I get this back??????????

Please help...:confused:
 

My Computer

System One

Hi Carmen,

Welcome to Vista Forums. :party:

I would recommend doing a System Restore using a restore point dated before you installed the Game. It should restore the Taskbar for you.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76905-system-restore-how.html

Since you do have Norton AV installed on your computer, I would not rule that out as a possible problem or future problem either. I have had alot people report problems with it and Vista.

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to try the system restore option. I get a little leary though b/c I'm not computer illiterate but...I'm not exactly a tech genius either.

I'm curious what you meant about the Norton AV causing problems?

Brink said:
Hi Carmen,

Welcome to Vista Forums. :party:

I would recommend doing a System Restore using a restore point dated before you installed the Game. It should restore the Taskbar for you.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76905-system-restore-how.html

Since you do have Norton AV installed on your computer, I would not rule that out as a possible problem or future problem either. I have had alot people report problems with it and Vista.

Shawn
Click to expand...
 

My Computer

System One

Carmen,

It's ok. Doing a System Restore is pretty easy to do.

Norton AV has been reported over and over to not be completely compatible with Vista. The main problem it causes is with Windows Mail getting stuck messages. Hopefully you will not see any of these if they have updated Norton, but if something related to security goes haywire I would look at that as a possibility.

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
carmenamaral said:
Hi, I just joined this forum b/c all of a sudden my taskbar disappeared. I stupidly dowloaded a free trial of a game from bigfishgames.com and when the trial ran out, I uninstalled it. Well, I don't think the uninstall was complete because the shortcut is still on my desktop although it's not on my control panel>uninstall menu.

Well anyway, since I tried the uninstall my taskbar is gone. It's not an auto-hide error, I checked. I ran a Norton Anti-Virus Scan and ntohing came up. My windows start icon is still there, just nothing on the taskbar.

I can find open windows from task manager, but that's it. I can't see my internet status, battery power, NOTHING.

How do I get this back??????????

Please help...:confused:
Click to expand...

Right-click on the taskbar, and select properties. Go to the "Notification Area" tab. Is the "Hide inactive icons" box checked? If it is you can either turn that option off so that icons are never hidden, or click the "<" arrow on the taskbar to show the icons that are missing...
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    AMD Phenom 9600 Quad
    Motherboard
    ASUS MB-M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi
    Memory
    2 x A-Data 2GB DDR2-800
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SAHARA 21"
    Screen Resolution
    1600x1200
    Hard Drives
    2 x 80GB Seagate (I)
    2 x 120GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 200GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 250GB Seagate (I/S)
    PSU
    800W
    Case
    Thermaltake Tai-Chi
    Cooling
    Tai-Chi Water Cooler
    Keyboard
    Genius
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    384kbps
    Other Info
    Currently dual booting between Vista x64 Ultimate Windows 7 BETA x64
I did a system restore and my taskbar is back!! HOORAY!!!

However, now my Symantec (Not Norton...although they are from the same parent company??) won't turn on. When I enable auto protect, nothing happens. I try to go to the Windows security window and turn the anti-virus on that way...and...nothing happens. Any ideas why??

Brink said:
Carmen,

It's ok. Doing a System Restore is pretty easy to do.

Norton AV has been reported over and over to not be completely compatible with Vista. The main problem it causes is with Windows Mail getting stuck messages. Hopefully you will not see any of these if they have updated Norton, but if something related to security goes haywire I would look at that as a possibility.

Shawn
Click to expand...
 

My Computer

System One

Carmen,

I'm glad to hear that your taskbar is back.

If you would like to keep Symantec's Norton AV, you can try uninstalling it, then reinstall it to see if that will get it working again for you. If you have problems uninstalling it, then use the Norton Removal tool.

Download and run the Norton Removal Tool


If you would like to use a great free alternative antivirus program instead, Avast is a good choice.

Free antivirus - avast! 4 Home Edition

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
I have NO IDEA where my symantec disk is so i'm a little nervous to uninstall. I was once told that Norton products have a way of hiding bits of themselves all over the computer making it incredibly difficult to completely uninstall. Is this the case even with the Norton removal tool?
 

My Computer

System One

Norton is the worst program you can put on a PC. It creates more problems then it solves...
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intele pentium Dual-Core E400 - 2.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    ECS
    Memory
    4 GB DDR2-800
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 7400 Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP 21907 Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    120 GB Seagate
    PSU
    250 Watt HiPro
    Cooling
    Cooler Master
    Keyboard
    di USB
    Mouse
    HP Optical
    Internet Speed
    25 Mpbs High Speed
Carmen,

The Norton removal tool, should (or suppose to ;) ) get rid of all those little left overs if the normal uninstall fails for some reason. Usually the left overs from programs are the user's personal settings for that program.

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
This is my first post on this forum, not a tech genius, I only signed up because I've tried all i can to get my toolbar back.
I did a system restore (not the full restore because I don't have any save points to do the full restore back to) but it still hasn't come back.
I tried going into the "Taskbar and Start Menu" bit on the control panel but I can't open it.
Thanks in advance
 

My Computer

System One

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