Windows 95 Taskbar Problems (Quick Fixes for Common Issues)

This here computer, it’s a real head-scratcher sometimes. Got this thing called a Windows 95 taskbar, and sometimes it acts up, just like my old rooster used to when he got riled up. It’s that little strip at the bottom of the screen, where all them little pictures and the clock hang out. Sometimes, I don’t know, it just goes crazy!

Now, I ain’t no computer whiz, not like them young folks glued to their screens. I just want the dang thing to work right. When that taskbar starts acting up, I gotta do some fixin’. Sometimes it gets all big and fat, like it ate too much corn. I don’t even know why it does that. I am gonna tell you how I get it back to normal.

First thing I do, I take that little arrow, the one you move around with that mouse thing, and I put it right on that taskbar. Then, I push down on the right side of that mouse, not the left, the right. That usually brings up a whole mess of words, don’t make much sense to me, but there’s one in there that says somethin’ ’bout lockin’ and unlockin’. I look for the word “Lock”. If it is checked, I click it so the check is gone. Now, you ain’t done yet, now you can make it the right size.

Now that it is not locked, you go to the edge of that bar, the line at the top, and you can make it smaller, or bigger if you want, but I like it small. You know, like it used to be. Once you get it how you want, you can lock it again, by doing that right click thing and then clickin “Lock the taskbar.” Whew, that’s a mouthful!

Sometimes, that taskbar, it just disappears altogether! Vanishes like a fart in the wind. If your taskbar is doing that it might have the auto-hide on. I am gonna tell you how to fix that. Go find that start button, looks like a little window, then go to settings, then personalization, then taskbar settings.

In that mess of words is one that says “Automatically hide the taskbar”. If that is checked, click it so the check is gone. Now it should stay there, right where it is supposed to be. If I’m lucky, that fixes it. If not, well, there’s other things to try.

Sometimes, them little pictures, the icons they call ’em, they just go missin’. Just like my teeth, here one day, gone the next. And the whole dang taskbar freezes up, won’t do a lick of work. Makes me wanna holler!

• Click on that start button, you know the window looking thing.
• Then click on settings.
• Then click on personalization.
• Then taskbar settings.
• There you can see what icons will show up on the taskbar.

When that happens, I try this other trick. You gotta push three buttons on that keyboard thing all at the same time. One’s called “Ctrl,” another’s called “Shift,” and the last one’s “Esc.” Now, I don’t know what those words mean, but pushin’ ’em together brings up another window, some kind of manager, that’s what they call it. Don’t know why, don’t care, just want this thing fixed!

If that don’t work, well, I heard someone say somethin’ ’bout drivers. Like them drivers that drive the school bus, but these are for the computer, I reckon. They say you gotta update ’em, like changin’ the oil in your car, I guess. Keep it runnin’ smooth. You gotta go to some website, for your motherboard, whatever that is. Something about the manufacturer, sounds important. Then you gotta download and install somethin’, they say it’s drivers for the chipset and storage controllers. Sounds like a whole lot of gibberish to me, but maybe it’ll work.

That Windows 95 taskbar is a real piece of work. Sometimes it’s frozen, you can’t click nothin’. I heard it called a frozen taskbar, which makes sense, cause I’ve had some frozen pipes in the winter and nothin’ is getting through them. Sometimes you need a taskbar fix. I just try all the things I told you about. Somethin’ is bound to work. Sometimes just turning that computer off and then back on fixes it. I don’t know why, that is just what happens.

I remember one time, I was trying to find that little picture for my picture program, you know the one where you can look at all your photos. Well, the whole taskbar just froze up. Couldn’t click nothin’. I tried that Ctrl, Shift, Esc thing, but nothin’ happened. I was about ready to throw the whole dang computer out the window!

Then, my neighbor, bless her heart, she came over. She’s a little younger than me, more familiar with these newfangled things. She said somethin’ ’bout an app, said it was incompatible. I don’t know what that means. She messed around with it for a while, clicked a bunch of things, and finally, it started workin’ again. She said somethin’ about a display driver too. I guess that’s important for showin’ things on the screen. She went on and on about it, but it was all just a bunch of computer talk to me.

So, yeah, that Windows 95 taskbar, it’s a mystery to me. But I learned a few tricks to keep it in line. Most of the time, anyway. If all else fails, I just turn the darn thing off and on again. Sometimes, that’s all it takes. Just like givin’ it a good whack on the side, like we used to do with the old TV when the picture got fuzzy. I hope you get your taskbar working right. I know it can be a pain when it is not working right.