Why does my Quick Launch bar have a mind of it's own?

I run Win XP home, and I always keep my Quick Launch bar visible by checking it in my right click on the Toolbar menu and the right click desktop menu for align desktop icons unchecked.
Whenever I reboot I have to unhide my Quick launch bar. Also all my desktop icons selection is checked again to align to a grid.
Also I've tried locking the Taskbar before shutting down too to no avail.
It's got me puzzled.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Floyd

 

Hi, Right click the task bar, then open "Properties ", make sure that " Keep task bar on top of windows " is ticked, "D "