Lost taskbar how can I get it back. ?

Hi,

Try the following:

start off by right-clicking on the desktop > Properties > Active Desktop (if listed) > untick all ticked options (so that no items are left ticked) > right-click on the desktop > Refresh. Now press Ctrl+Esc to display the Start menu*. If that also causes the taskbar to appear, that will confirm it was merely hidden. With the Start menu now visible, negotiate your way to the Taskbar's settings' dialog - the route varies depending on your version of Windows: for Windows 98, click Settings > Taskbar and Start Menu > Taskbar Options tab; for XP, click Control Panel > Appearance and Themes > Taskbar and Start Menu.

* In the case of XP, if Ctrl+Esc failed to pull up the Start menu, you can still get to the taskbar settings by creating a temporary shortcut to the Control Panel. To do this, right-click on the desktop > New > Shortcut > at the Command line field, type in the word control > Enter. Double-click on the new shortcut (to open Control Panel) > Appearance and Themes > Taskbar and Start Menu.

Once at the taskbar settings' dialog, untick all the boxes > Apply > OK > restart the computer. After Windows has rebooted, return to the taskbar settings window and, in Win 98, tick only 'Always on top' and 'Show clock' or, in XP, tick only 'Lock the taskbar', 'Keep the taskbar on top', 'Group similar taskbar buttons' and 'Show Quick Launch' > Apply > OK > restart the computer again. With luck, you will now have your taskbar back in place, with the new settings duly remembered.

If that initial process fails to restore the taskbar, press Ctrl+Esc again to see if that is still only bringing up the Start menu. Assuming it is, press Esc to clear the Start menu, or click on the desktop. The taskbar may actually be there somewhere, just very hard to notice if it has floated away from its normal position, and been condensed in size. So scrutinise all round the whole of the desktop and all the edges of the screen very carefully to see if some small part of the taskbar is showing anywhere.

If you cannot see any sign of any part of the taskbar, nor a miniaturised taskbar, change your screen resolution temporarily to a wider resolution as this will help reveal a floating taskbar if it has totally floated off the edge of the normal-sized screen. For example, if you are currently on 800 x 600, change to 1024 x 768, or wider. To do that, right-click on the desktop > Properties > negotiate to the Display settings' window and then jack up the resolution slider at least one notch to the right. After changing to a wider res, look all round the edges of the desktop very carefully again to see if the taskbar is now visible (be conscious that if it had previously been reduced in size, it will be even tinier at this wider resolution). If you still cannot see anything that might be the taskbar, it is always possible it has been collapsed down to nothing along the bottom edge of the screen. Slide your mouse all the way down so the cursor is trying to disappear off the bottom edge of the desktop. If the cursor changes to a double-headed arrow, left-click the mouse, drag upwards and the taskbar would then reappear. If you do not get a double-headed arrow at the bottom edge, repeat the same process against both sides of the screen, and the top edge of the screen to see if that's where the taskbar went.

If any of the above tests, including Ctrl+Esc, did reveal the taskbar, but the bar is not properly proportioned and needs resizing, left-click on the taskbar > press Alt+Space Bar > from the menu which pops up, choose Size > resize the taskbar using the keyboard's arrow keys.

Hey, I don't have time to read through D's, no offense, so I'll try to help you if I can with a smaller answer, if for some reason your taskbar is just minimized, you might see the top sticking out from a side of your screen, if you can, click that and drag back in towards the screen, if its not a small problem like that...

You can try going to Control Panel, Taskbar and Start Menu, and check Lock the Taskbar, and Keep the Taskbar on top of Other Windows. Uncheck auto-hide taskbar if it is checked, if this does not help, read through D's and I'm sorry I couldn't help.

did you move your mouse to the bottom of the screen? sometimes the taskbar can be hidden and comes up only when you move your mouse there. If it does pop up, right click and go to properties and unselect the 'Auto-hide taskbar' checkbox. If that doesn't work, try pressing the window logo key on your keyboard. This usually brings up the start menu.. hope it works

It's probably hiding. Go to bottom (or side or top, wherever it may be), and pull it up, (down or left or right).

Otherwise, Control Panels > Taskbar & Start Menu, see if Auto-hide is selected.

Click at the bottom of the window and hold it so a double arrow appears, then drag the taskbar back up.

place your mousepointer at the bottom of your screen.

when the pointer becomes a double-pointed arrow, drag it one notch upward.

happy computing!! :)