Computer problem

[Commendatori]

I just got a call from my better half, who says she "somehow made the start button and that whole bar on the bottom" disappear. She thinks she "dropped and dragged it into oblivion."

I really have no idea what she's talkign about, other than the fact that her screen is, apparently, completely blank at the bottom.

Have any of you heard of this, seen it, or know how to fix it?

TIA for any responses -

BlOyDem

[nini]

1. have her put the mouse at the bottom of the screen..

and when it becomes a doublesided arrow - click, hold down and drag it up.. she should be able to see it then

[apnu]

2. see if this helps

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000127.htm

[KinkyDem]

3. ARghhhhh!!!

You can Drag and drop the task bar. You can also hide it. You will ned to move the pointer very carfully around the outside edge of the screen until it pops up, then right click on it and chhose properties, then uncheck hide.

That should do it.

You may also want to re-boot into sfe mode (press F8) while it's starting up. This should put the task bar back where it belongs and then you can uncheck the "hide" option.

Hope that helps.

[TrogL]

4. Unlikely...but

The controls on the monitor may be screwed up. The bottom of the raster may be off the bottom of the screen. Have her shrink it vertically (using the monitor's controls, not the computer's) and see if it shows up at the bottom.

[Peachhead22]

5. I had a situation recently...

...where Windows Explorer was crashing about halfway though my bootup. It totally took away my taskbar (and start button and tray) and left a black bar at the bottom of the screen.

It turned out I had some spyware trojan that was freaking out my bootup sequence. First off, I hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and chose 'Shut Down>Log Off <Username>'. Then logged back into my account. (I'm using XP). That brought my Taskbar back temporarily. Then with a combination of Norton Antivirus and HijackThis I was able to remove the spyware.

The other suggestions about clicking and dragging or unclicking Autohide are much more likely to address you problem. But if they don't, consider my situation.

[DS1]

6. turn the monitor upside down and shake it

:shrug:

[havocmom]

7. DS1 wins!

Vanna, what lovely prizes do we have for DS1?

[geniph]

8. She probably accidentally right-clicked it

and shrank it down to nothingness. Tell her to put the mouse at the very bottom of the screen, and try holding down the right mouse button and dragging it up a bit. If that's what she did, that'll resize the taskbar to be visible. Users do that all the time.