Task bar changed location

I have my desktop and my wife's laptop configured so that the Start Button, Quick Launch,Task Bar and the clock are all along the bottom of the screen. Earlier today my wife's laptop suddenly changed so that all those things were arranged vertically along the right side of the screen. I wound up doing a System Restore, which worked, but isn't there a more direct way of getting those areas located where we want them? I tried dragging and right-clicking and several other things before I ran out of ideas and did the Sys Restore. What's the secret? Or is there one?

 

unlock the taskbar and u can 'drag' it to any edge

 

Thanks for the replies.

When I right-clicked on the laptop's Taskbar just now, the "Lock the Taskbar" option was unchecked. I can't say what its status was last night when I was trying to move it, but if unchecked is the default I would assume that's the way it was then and I should have been able to drag those elements as you say. But it wouldn't work. Since the rearrangment occurred suddenly, I wouldn't think my wife could have done anything that would have changed the lock status as well as moved all those elements at the same time. Hitting the Ctrl or Alt key accidentally can do some strange things. Could either of them have done it?

The laptop screen has been behaving itself ever since I did the Sys Restore, so the problem no longer exists, but other members and I would like to learn just what's behind that sort of development. Any ideas?

 

in my experience on xp, the default is locked. so ... the unchecked is probably the result of user action.

as far as i can tell, the CTRL or ALT key modifiers don't have any effect while modifying the taskbar in terms of size or postion.

to me, the problem is probably related to the touchpad - i'm guessing here - since they DO have 'tap & drag' or 'zones' type settings that normal mice do not have. eg - i'd bet on the fact that one of the touchpad settings is the reason the issue came up to begin w/. it's one of the main reasons that i disable all of the functions on touchpads. they're just more trouble than they're worth in my book

 

skeet6961: I'm with you on the touchpad. I bought an MS laptop mouse and I use it whenever we travel and take the laptop with us. But my wife prefers using the touchpad. I'll have to check its settings tomorrow to see if there's something enabled that could lead to trouble.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

sounds like a plan ... i'd opt to turn off all 'features' on the TP and test. if it's ok that way ... just leave em off

another thought on TPs = lick u'r finger and try using it hehe ... i just hate those things. i was always fond of the J cursor stick but they're hard to find these days.

 

This is not a reply but rather another question about the taskbar. MY PC has always had a My Desktop Icon in quick launch. I was moving some shortcuts off the desktop to the quick launch area and somehow I deleted the My Desktop icon. Now to go to desktop when I have windows open I have to right click on taskbar and click on show desktop. I would much rather have the icon restored. Any thought from you pros? Where did it go when I deleted it? I even did a System Restore back to previous day and that didn't return it.

This is one of these things that makes me feel really stupid, so any help will really be appreciated.

 

How to re-create the Show Desktop icon on the Quick Launch bar

 

Thanks, I'll give it a go after a nights sleep. I've messed up enough for one day. I'll let you know if it works for me.

 

Thanks Zander - The Icon was created but will not function. By the way it is not the same Icon as was there. The icon that wad there and working was the same Icon you see when you open My Documents, then click on My Desktop and appears just to the immediate left of My Desktop in the left side pane.

I'm sure open to any other options.

 

I had a look at mine and the MS article isn't quite right or at least they don't explain it very well. Try making a new one and make it just as you see it below. It should work for you then. There should be 5 lines in it when you're done.

Code:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

 

Thanks Zander, I did a copy and paste of what you posted to me and it works like it is supposed to work. Thank you so much.

Any clue as to where the previously deleted Icon went?

 

RickyD2: I have a Show Desktop icon in my Quick Launch bar. I assume that's the same as the My Desktop icon you mention (I'm using XP HE rather than the XP Pro you have, so that might make a difference to all of this). When I did a Search in C:\ for the show desktop.scf file, 6 or 7 locations were listed. You could see what you find doing that if you haven't already. But when I right-clicked on the icon in the Quick Launch bar, and chose Properties, it reported one location in C:\Documents and Settings\my name\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch. Have you tried that one?

Oops! Sorry. I didn't see the last two posts arrive before I submitted mine. Glad to see you got things fixed.

 

Glad to hear it worked for you.

It's hard to say. For some reason or another the thing seems to go missing all of a sudden on some systems. I lost mine once with Win98 and have no idea what happened to it. One possibility I suppose is that you could right click on it and accidentally delete it from the menu but It seems to me you'd notice something like that. When I lost mine, I'm pretty sure I never did anything like but then again............

It's not what I would call a normal occurrence but it happens often enough that I wouldn't call it rare either. I wouldn't worry about it unless it ends up missing again in the near future. More than likely you'll not see it happen again.

 

Zander, you seem the expert where taskbars are concerned and I now have something else that has cropped up that I seem unable to resolve.

I needed to shut my PC down earlier in the evening for reasons having nothing to do with it specifically, just rer-arranging some cabeling issues.
Anyway, when I re-booted, I find a double width taskbar with the sliders one atop the other and neither will move. Taskbar is not locked and Quick Launch is checked. I can no longer put quuick launch icons anywhere other than in
the quick launch area whereas before I could click the right slider and raise a menu of icons I had placed there.

Any thoughts as to resolution?

Sorry to be such a pest but this just seems not to be my week.

 

just a note - winkey + D does the same thing w/o icons ... faster in my book and it's a toggle. do it once it shows DT, do it again and it returns the apps they way they were.

 

Thank you skeet, but that does not resolve the latest taskbar fiasco.

 

true - but i never said it did ... as to the taskbar setup, i'll leave that to zander but ... if u turn off all toolbars, does it still open in double? if not, u'r slider setup is more than likely just wrong. re-load the toolbar and slide setup as u see on any other machine. then lock it and leave it

if it does open in double, just grab the top and shrink it to norm. then lock it.

 

Thanks skeet, but you were way over my head with that response. I am not aware of any toolbar problem, it is the taskbar. I'm not sure of what connection one has to the other.