Taskbar pinned running program marker line problems

ysu · 16 Feb 2021

Hi
I've got two problems with the line next to the running programs on the taskbar of win10.

I use the taskbar on the left as I always did (monitors are wider than tall). I use a lot of pinned programs, too, for an easy start to the day.
Some programs are running, and usually I'm getting a thin, accent-coloured line next to them.

Problem 1:
This line is very thin and it's on the edge of the screen, so it's not very useful (win7 was much better highlighting the running programs)
Screenshot to illustrate the problem:

Taskbar pinned running program marker line problems-screenshot_33.jpg

(mind you it looks much better here; on the monitor it's off to the far left, hence it looks about half as wide)

And problem 2:
if I change the "Scale and layout" to anything custom (advanced scaling settings, enter a custom scaling size, reset computer) then these lines completely disappear.

The sad thing is that I'm using a 43" 4K screen here, and 100% is too small, 125% too large, 110% is ideal - and guess what; it's a non-standard scale. :(

I'm wondering if there's any way to make the line thicker, make it always appear, or even better; return to the win7 way of highlighting the icons?

Thanks in advance

ysu · 02 Apr 2021

Ok this is a bit weird.
Someone posted this up on another site (windows phone info dot com), verbatim (not me) using a similar looking account name.
Here:https://www.****************.com/thr...oblems.514376/
Edit: weirdly this site is blocking that site completely. Googling for the title finds it, though. The heck is going on here?

And people *seem to be* posting irrelevant crap there, too. Not sure if that's people or bots over there.
Still, I'd love to know if anyone has any soft of solution to either problem.

z3r010 · 02 Apr 2021

That site copied your post and ones from other sites and mixes them up to pretend it's real content for ad revenue.

dalchina · 02 Apr 2021

Hi, you could, I suppose, try a double height (or in your case width) taskbar:

Taskbar pinned running program marker line problems-1.png

- the downside is, of course, it takes more screen space.

You might get greater contrast following this:
Color of active window in Windows 10 taskbar - Super User
- but it probably wouldn't help with your scaling issue.

Ben Myers · 02 Apr 2021

Many monitors have buttons that can be used to reposition the display . Try shifting it slightly to the right.

Ben

ysu · 04 Apr 2021

Thanks for all the responses, guys!

Ben Myers said:

Many monitors have buttons that can be used to reposition the display . Try shifting it slightly to the right.

Ben

I'll research to see if there's one - it's a Philips bdm4350 43" monitor (older model now).
I've had a cursory look but could not find anything. There's nothing in the manual https://www.download.p4c.philips.com...27_dfu_aen.pdf.

There are v-position and h-position in the settings, but they are greyed out, unaccessible. Maybe due to using DP1.2 input, not sure.

I've changed the highlight to a contrasty red colour, ugly as, but still not enough of a visible cue, to be honest.

I've noticed that my screen is 'wandering' a bit; it keeps shifting to the left, then at one point it comes back. Never noticed that before this win10 migration, only that occasionally it seems to 'jump' a bit, but not too often. Maybe once an hour.

So yeah, it'd be ideal to have a windows option to go back to win7 mode on this one, I kinda hoped someone have some insider info, a registry tweak or somesuch.