Vista - Issues with the taskbar and desktop

I have Vista Home Premium 32-bit and I've got a few issues. After a short
amount of time, the taskbar gets really messed up (systray icons on left
side, can't click anything, desktop icons don't unhighlight, etc...). I can
temporarily rectify the issue by closing and restarting explorer.exe but
what's causing this to occur?

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, Windows Aero active
CPU, RAM: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 3.00GB RAM
Video: ATI Radeon X850 XT w/ Catalyst 7.1 Vista 32-bit drivers

geforcefly,

Do you have any third party applications attempting running inside Windows
Vista?

If so, will you provide the name(s) of the applications?

Also, is your version of Vista Genuine Microsoft, or OEM?

Since you are using an Athlon 64X, what you describe is most unusual.
--
Windows Vista
Become Part of The Legacy!



"geforcefly" wrote:

> I have Vista Home Premium 32-bit and I've got a few issues. After a short
> amount of time, the taskbar gets really messed up (systray icons on left
> side, can't click anything, desktop icons don't unhighlight, etc...). I can
> temporarily rectify the issue by closing and restarting explorer.exe but
> what's causing this to occur?
>
> OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, Windows Aero active
> CPU, RAM: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 3.00GB RAM
> Video: ATI Radeon X850 XT w/ Catalyst 7.1 Vista 32-bit drivers
>

These are the major programs that are running on startup:
RMClock 2.2 (manual CPU clock multiplier/voltage adjustment)
SpeedFan 4.31 (automatic fan speed control and temperature monitoring)
Google Picasa2 Media Detector 2.6.0
AVG Free 7.5.441
Logitech SetPoint 3.30.159 (for my MX310)
Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.3.1.2144

Other major drivers installed:
SpeedFan (it has its own driver)
ATi/AMD Catalyst 7.1 Vista 32-bit (for my graphics card)
nVidia nForce4 Vista Drivers (Systems management interface only)
The dreaded Starforce drivers (just updated to Feb 8, 2007) (so I can play
TrackMania Sunrise)

User Account Control is off (much too annoying for me)

OS is Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium retail upgrade (upgraded from
Genuine Windows XP Home w/ SP2 retail 4 days after installation)

I also forgot to say that when I switch between programs through Flip3D in
this state, the switched-out program is no longer usable and must be closed
through Task Manager.
Needless to say, this is very annoying.

2 screensnips that show the scrambled taskbar are at
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...fly/Image5.jpg
and
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...fly/Image4.jpg


"Jonathan Schwartz 2" wrote:

> geforcefly,
>
> Do you have any third party applications attempting running inside Windows
> Vista?
>
> If so, will you provide the name(s) of the applications?
>
> Also, is your version of Vista Genuine Microsoft, or OEM?
>
> Since you are using an Athlon 64X, what you describe is most unusual.
> --
> Windows Vista
> Become Part of The Legacy!
>
>
>
> "geforcefly" wrote:
>
> > I have Vista Home Premium 32-bit and I've got a few issues. After a short
> > amount of time, the taskbar gets really messed up (systray icons on left
> > side, can't click anything, desktop icons don't unhighlight, etc...). I can
> > temporarily rectify the issue by closing and restarting explorer.exe but
> > what's causing this to occur?
> >
> > OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, Windows Aero active
> > CPU, RAM: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 3.00GB RAM
> > Video: ATI Radeon X850 XT w/ Catalyst 7.1 Vista 32-bit drivers
> >

Update:
The issue described above also happens with Windows Aero disabled. In this
instance, the taskbar ends up at the top of the screen and the desktop
wallpaper is dark. If anyone else's experiencing this issue and have a
solution (without reinstalling Windows or using one of my 2 MS tech support
calls), it would be greatly appreciated.

same problem here.
Running full version (not OEM) of Ultimate.

Taskbar got messed up a few times -- can't click anything. Can,t even get to
shut down button. Had to shut down manually. Not sure what sequence of
things is .... Will keep tracking .

Dan
Sudbury, Canada

For me, it looks as though the RMClock utility is causing the problem for me.
There are no updates available to this program as I write this.

i have the exact same problem and ares is causing the problem, if i open it then like 5 to 10 minutes later its starts flickering and i have to restart the computer, i read somewhere else that installing an older version of ares might not give you problem.

and i just ran across this The Windows desktop may stop updating correctly after a Windows Vista-based computer has been running for an extended period of time

Yea I have the same exact problem. The taskbar will mess up and you cant click on anything. All the programs that are running in the taskbar will go behind the start button and then the taskbar will start highlighting and unhighlighting. I have to restart it to fix the problem but a couple of days later it will do it again. I have a desktop and I just bought a laptop the other day and they both have Vista on them. The desktop is about 6 months old and it has done it every since I got it. Well I bought a new laptop about 3 days ago and it has Vista on it too and, of course, it is doing the same exact thing as my desktop so I know it is Vista. Maybe Microsoft will come out with an update that will fix this problem because its beginning to piss me off since I now have two computers that do it.

go here and download the patch The Windows desktop may stop updating correctly after a Windows Vista-based computer has been running for an extended period of time

Thanks for the help. I downloaded that patch yesterday but it didnt work. Today my taskbar did it again. I really dont know what to do now. Vista just sucks is all I can say.