Taskbar won't hide

toughdiamond · 03 Jul 2020

The taskbar refuses to auto-hide, and is showing "always-on-top" behaviour when I try to watch videos in full screen mode, both with Media Player Classic HC and with VLC. Strangely, the Netflix app is currently giving a true full screen right now, though it's given the same problem intermittently in the past.

I've tried unchecking and re-checking the "auto-hide taskbar" checkbox, but it hasn't helped. The most suspected culprit is the Windows Updates icon which is showing a little red dot because it wants to install a load of updates. I don't want the updates. I haven't shut the computer down or rebooted for a day or two, just to delay the updates from applying. Obviously I'll have to reboot sooner or later, but I'd rather not for now, and I don't do much on that computer apart from watch videos.

Is there any 3rd-party utility that might help? I was wondering if something like ShutUp10 could be used - I thought maybe I could use that to block all the updates I don't trust and then reboot, which with a bit of luck might fool that Windows Updates alert into thinking I've complied with its wishes, and then I wouldn't have to worry about the detrimental effects of updates. I'm assuming it's the updater that's causing the taskbar to persist, but I don't know that, it just seems a likely candidate.

Windows 10 version 1903

Ghot · 03 Jul 2020

This will stop Windows Update.... Winaero Tweaker

https://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.1836

toughdiamond · 03 Jul 2020

Thanks, that looks a lot simpler than ShutUp10. I'll give it a try and let you know if it does the trick

Brink · 03 Jul 2020

Hello,

In addition, you could use the free WUA Manager program in option 7 of the tutorial below to disable automatic updates allowing you to selectively install updates you want if wanted.

Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10

toughdiamond · 04 Jul 2020

Thanks Brink, I'll take a look at that as well. I didn't know there were so many utilities that can take back control of those forced updates. Good that there are

- - - Updated - - -
ADDED July 4th:
Well, the problem has gone away without my intervention

What happened was this: I've got the computer set to hibernate on closing the lid, and it seems that a visitor watched a couple of videos on Hulu while I was busy with other matters, then put the computer to sleep and then closed the lid. When I powered it up again, the Start menu was open. It went away when I clicked on the desktop as might be expected, Then I noticed that the taskbar was auto-hiding just as it had been set to do. So I tried playing a video file, and was glad to see that in full-screen mode the taskbar was still absent. I turned off "Auto-Hide Taskbar" and the videos still played without the taskbar intruding, just like they used to do before the fault appeared (I'd only set it to auto-hide to try to fix the fault). The Windows Update icon still has the red dot, not surprisingly because there's been no shutdown yet so the updates haven't been able to install. The fact that it's still there although the taskbar goes away when it should suggests that the red dot had nothing to do with the problem. Anyway, it all seems back to normal. An unusual "fix" for an unusual problem.

So there's no need to run an update manager and reboot, at least not to fix the problem in the thread title, though I'll be doing that presently anyway, so that updates will no longer discourage me from rebooting. Thanks for recommending them. I won't shut down for a day or two, just to see if the problem returns, that way I might get the chance to find out if I can reproduce the "fix." I won't mark it as solved till I'm fairly sure it's not likely to come back.

Brink · 04 Jul 2020

Great news so far.

Ghot · 05 Jul 2020

Ghot said:

This will stop Windows Update.... Winaero Tweaker

https://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.1836

https://i.imgur.com/IFPhjJy.png

Btw, here is a pic of the full settings list, in... WinAero Tweaker v0.17.1.0

toughdiamond · 05 Jul 2020

Ghot said:

Btw, here is a pic of the full settings list, in... WinAero Tweaker v0.17.1.0

Thanks, I've been trying both utilities out without actually saving any changes. I like the way WinAero allows bookmarking of tweaks of interest so they're easy to find again - without that it was a tad daunting. WUA Manager on the other hand gives finer control over the update process.

toughdiamond · 31 Jul 2020

Finally tried out one of the update-killing utilities - the taskbar problem hadn't come back, but the other day Windows had the cheek to interrupt a video I was watching to nag me about shutting down so it could install its unwanted updates, so I figured it was time for a showdown. I chose WUA Manager for the job, simply because controlling updates is the only thing it does, and so I'd expect it to be more committed to getting it right, though that's based on pure conjecture. I'm sure the WinAero Tweaker will come in handy for other things, so I've got that on there too, though I haven't thrown the switch to turn off updates in that one, not wishing to confuse Windows with 2 commands to do the same thing.

The result was that Windows installed its updates anyway - presumably it had already downloaded them and set its heart on forcing them onto me some time before I turned off the updating. So it was the usual long, feverish wait while it sat there stuck at 0% progress, and me wondering if it was ever going to power up again. It did, eventually, and presented me with Edge as my new default browser. So that's why it was making such a fuss. Amazing. Weren't they dragged through the courts for making Windows Media Player slightly pushy, and forced to give users a clear option to leave it out? Anyway after a bit of pain I think I've got it to accept Firefox as my default browser again, though I note Edge's executable etc. are still in the Programs folder on the system drive, and I suspect that if and when I try to delete that, Windows will tell me I'm not allowed to.