Taskbar menu artiifacts

margrave55 · 17 Apr 2017

I have added menus to the taskbar in Windows 10, just as I did with Windows 7.
In both systems there are artifacts, seen here:

Taskbar menu artiifacts-taskbar.menu.artifacts.jpg

When the taskbar is unlocked (upper image), the menus appear properly. But in the unlocked state it's all too easy to mess things up with an errant mouse stroke, so I like to lock the taskbar.

When the taskbar is locked (lower image), the menus show artifacts. Each menu artifact is a portion of the first icon in that menu.

In Win 7 I could (sometimes) eliminate the artifacts by unlocking, moving the menus around, then relocking. This often required multiple random-walks involving shifts and moves, and a bunch of dumb luck. But eventually the menus would appear like this:

Taskbar menu artiifacts-taskbar.menu.fixed.jpg

I could usually get this clean result in Win 7, but I cannot in Win 10.
(That last screen shot is a fake. I Photoshopped it to make clear what I'm talking about.)

Is there a fix for this?

EliteData · 17 Apr 2017

if i understand you correctly, i believe the icons for each shortcut is erratically/corruptly displayed ?
im not sure if this issue is related to the icon cache database as it appears to be incorrectly scaling the icons to fit within the taskbar.
is it possible to size the space between each shortcut ?
that might resolve the icon scaling issue if the shortcuts are too closely spaced to each other.

margrave55 · 17 Apr 2017

In the unlocked state (top photo), the dual vertical bars beside each folder name is a "handle". You can grab it and "slide" to the left, which opens up the menu horizontally. The old Quick Launch menu (dating back to Win 95 and still present today) is precisely THAT, with the optional text labels turned off!

In that top photo, each handle is as far to the right as possible. So each folder can display NO icons at all. Exactly what I want.

Until ... you click on the little double-right arrow. Then the menu opens up vertically. Perfect.

The problem arises when I lock the taskbar. That produces errant artifact icons. The little arrows will still open up the vertical menu. But the artifacts are annoying. And they're active.

As I said above, with Win 7 I could usually push the menus around and then lock ... and no artifacts. But with Win 10 on two desktops and one laptop is NO GO.

Edwin · 17 Apr 2017

margrave55 said:

In the unlocked state (top photo), the dual vertical bars beside each folder name is a "handle". You can grab it and "slide" to the left, which opens up the menu horizontally. The old Quick Launch menu (dating back to Win 95 and still present today) is precisely THAT, with the optional text labels turned off!

In that top photo, each handle is as far to the right as possible. So each folder can display NO icons at all. Exactly what I want.

Until ... you click on the little double-right arrow. Then the menu opens up vertically. Perfect.

The problem arises when I lock the taskbar. That produces errant artifact icons. The little arrows will still open up the vertical menu. But the artifacts are annoying. And they're active.

As I said above, with Win 7 I could usually push the menus around and then lock ... and no artifacts. But with Win 10 on two desktops and one laptop is NO GO.

Set the custom toolbars but leave the taskbar alone, as in, leave it locked.

margrave55 · 17 Apr 2017

That did it. Thanks ...

The trick is to have the taskbar locked while adding the toolbar menus.

I always unlocked it first as a habit ... because you HAD TO in Win XP.

Taskbar menu artiifacts

Taskbar menu artifacts