Explorer taskbar disappears

[muff_top10]

I am running XP. Lately sometimes when I click on any button on the bottom taskbar; the start button, quick launch, & the whole tray disappears for a few seconds. When it comes back, not all my tray icons are there and so I have to pull up task manager to end them. I have scanned for viruses and spyware. Any other ideas on why this is happening?

[vipp]

Tray saver rescues icons after an explorer crash. It doesn't say it's compatible with XP, but I use it, and it works perfectly.

http://www.mlin.net/TraySaver.shtml

[phalkon30]

As vipp kinda said, explorer is crashing. There could be a number of reasons for that, none of which I think you can really do anything about.

Do you have all windows updates?

If it really bugs you that much, reinstall windows (unless somebody can tell you different)

[muff_top10]

I'll try that Traysaver. I do have all the updates. I searched Microsoft knowledge base and couldn't find any answers. I hate to reinstall, what a pain! I guess I'll just see if it gets worse. My kids get on this computer so it's hard to tell if maybe they've hit something they shouldn't have. lol. Thanks for the input.

[MacGyver]

XP is the Devil....

[Potato]

Explorer crashes for me from time to time as well... kind of a pain in the ass but it always comes back. I don't care enough to fix it. Let us know how that Tray thing works for you though.

[muff_top10]

So far, so good! I had to install it twice. The first time, web pages were opening in a funky little minimized block. After I tried again, it seems to be working great. :gj

[Krell]

muff_top10


Just as an experiment, install SP1, this rewrites your OS files, and associations. It's no garantee that it will fix what the thing is that crashes Explorer.exe, it could be an installed software, such as a P2p APP!.

[Kevin06906]

Alright, that's pretty cool.

I needed that program as well...thanks vipp.

It just does that for me too, i have all the updates for xp and i have the service pack for it, so Bill gates better start working on that too with all the security problems as well.

[muff_top10]

muff_top10


Just as an experiment, install SP1, this rewrites your OS files, and associations. It's no garantee that it will fix what the thing is that crashes Explorer.exe, it could be an installed software, such as a P2p APP!.
I have SP1a installed now. Should I uninstall and then install again? I use WinMx. Never had this problem until I had to install XP on a new hard drive. I wonder if it's TmpgEnc. Seems to crash more often when that is running, but maybe it's just because it uses 100% CPU.

[phalkon30]

I think you can try just installing it again. Don't bother uninstalling it.

[muff_top10]

That's what I did with the SP1. It's been a day and it hasn't happened. Not sure whether it was reinstalling or the TraySaver, but it's working! :upside