Why is Windows auto hide taskbar still frustrating after 20+ years?

[Ichinisan]

I've always wanted my taskbar to auto-hide. In 20+ years, I've never had it enabled for more than 1 or 2 days. The feature causes frustration due to inconsistent behavior. The taskbar often refuses to appear when you need it to. Sometimes a maximized window covers up the 1-or-2 pixels at the bottom of the screen and I have to minimize the window so I can get the taskbar to pop-up. I always make sure the "keep taskbar on top of other windows" option is checked, so it should always have Z-order priority (but it fails in practice).

I tested again with Windows 10 recently and found I still had the same kinds of usability problems. Auto-hide is disabled once again.

Is it just me, or does everyone experience problems with the taskbar set to auto-hide? Is it so hard for Microsoft to fix those UI issues permanently?

 

[nerp]

You know what? I am with you word for word. And the thing is, I find I have similar frustrations with the dock in OSX. I always end up resorting to turning off auto-hide.

I like having the clock on the Windows desktop, so I take solace in that.

 

[PingSpike]

Can you hit the windows key to force the taskbar to the foreground and expand? Not a solution but maybe a workaround.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Sounds like you've got other issues such as a corrupt system file or registry entry. Perhaps a program is wrongfully keeping it open for you. I run into that issue with the last.fm scrobbler as it will keep the task bar from auto hiding.

 

[Mushkins]

Sounds like you've got other issues such as a corrupt system file or registry entry. Perhaps a program is wrongfully keeping it open for you. I run into that issue with the last.fm scrobbler as it will keep the task bar from auto hiding.

I run into similar issues with Spotify, lots of streaming/cloud enabled apps dont like to let the PC go idle or play nice with acknowledging what is active or inactive in windows. Could absolutely be a software conflict of some sort, especially if its consistent between OS versions.

 

[CZroe]

Sounds like you've got other issues such as a corrupt system file or registry entry. Perhaps a program is wrongfully keeping it open for you. I run into that issue with the last.fm scrobbler as it will keep the task bar from auto hiding.

No. He's saying that it sometimes will frustrating not appear by pointing at the edge like it is supposed to. After decades, Microsoft still hasn't fixed this.

 

[Ichinisan]

You know what? I am with you word for word. And the thing is, I find I have similar frustrations with the dock in OSX. I always end up resorting to turning off auto-hide.

I like having the clock on the Windows desktop, so I take solace in that.

I recently enabled auto-hide on my mother's early-2009 24" iMac. I noticed the dock icons were burning into the screen pretty badly. I still haven't looked again to see if the burned-in images ever went away...

 

[Ichinisan]

Sounds like you've got other issues such as a corrupt system file or registry entry.

The taskbar auto-hide issues affect every system I have ever touched since Windows 95 introduced the taskbar. Every single one.

Perhaps a program is wrongfully keeping it open for you. I run into that issue with the last.fm scrobbler as it will keep the task bar from auto hiding.

The more common problem is that I can't get it to consistently appear when I want.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I wonder if your mouse driver is the issue...does it appear if you hit the windows key?

 

[sandorski]

It works fine for me 98% of the time. However, I do experience those exact same issues on occasion and I have no idea why. I have also experienced it on every version of Windows I have used, since Win95.

 

[CZroe]

I wonder if your mouse driver is the issue...does it appear if you hit the windows key?

Since Windows 95 introduced the Task Bar and the inconsistent auto-hide behavior, that's always been the work-around, but the whole point to having it pop-up when you mouse-over is to avoid having to stop using the mouse to do that. Sometimes you are even dragging something to another window and you need the Task Bar to pop up while you drag and drop to give another window focus. You usually try to make it appear a few times before resorting to that, which adds frustration and unpredictability to your work flow.

 

[HeXen]

Autohide works fine on OS X

 

[SparkyJJO]

Auto hide annoys the crap out of me so I never use it.

I understood wanting it back in the days of 800x600 but with high res screens these days I don't get the reason to hide the thing.

 

[HeXen]

Auto hide annoys the crap out of me so I never use it.

I understood wanting it back in the days of 800x600 but with high res screens these days I don't get the reason to hide the thing.

Well if you're on a laptop you may want to maximize full screen space. I have a 15" so I maximize everything. Never seen this issue on OS X and I keep as much hidden as possible if it's not something containing information I need, not sure about Linux distro's but Windows has always had several UI problems. Another one is when you put Startbar at the top of the screen and other applications can always be placed under it, especially if you maximize the app so then it hides the top menu bar. I've had it prevent me from moving or closing some applications because it's underneath the Startbar so then I have to set it to autohide just to access it.
I just use Windows for gaming these days, too many features I have no use for and does too many things I don't care for.

 

[CZroe]

Auto hide annoys the crap out of me so I never use it.

I understood wanting it back in the days of 800x600 but with high res screens these days I don't get the reason to hide the thing.

My 11.6" 1366x768 Alienware M11X r3 disagrees. Anyone running Boot Camp on their 11.6" MacBook Air disagrees too.

Still sorely needed.

 

[Ichinisan]

I wonder if your mouse driver is the issue

I practically never install bloatware for input devices. This would be the generic standard Windows built-in driver for 95% of the systems I've used throughout my life.

...does it appear if you hit the windows key?

Always without fail. I'm a keyboard productivity fiend and almost always have my left hand on the keyboard. It's the few occasions when I'm reaching over to my desk with my left hand to awkwardly do something with the mouse and find that the damn taskbar refuses to appear -- that's infuriating and unacceptable to still be a problem after 20+ years.

 

[Auric]

Shortscreen (16:9) benefits from a side taskbar.

 

[SparkyJJO]

1366x768? Sucks to be you

Seriously that resolution makes me feel like we took a huge step backwards when that became the "norm" for so many laptops. Sucks so bad and so hard to find a simple laptop with a half decent resolution without paying an arm and a leg for some performance model.

1600x900 absolute minimum for me on a 14" or I won't buy it. 15.6" is passable at 1600x900 but it should be full 1920x1080 at that point IMO. At least make those a more readily available option for laptops instead of almost niche offerings.

OK, rant mode off.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah when widescreen first came out it was essentially a 4:3 missing a chunk of the top, it was a huge step backwards. It's only when HD became a thing that we finally started to see gains, but laptop screens still suck.

I've never used auto hide though so can't comment on that. I always found it kinda annoying. Probably because of the things mentioned in the OP, actually.

 

[Ichinisan]

Shortscreen (16:9) benefits from a side taskbar.

Been doing that for a while. Even on my 16:10 1920x1200 monitor at home. Definitely recommended for Win7/8/10.

 

[nerp]

So true about the screens. That's why I find the Surface Book so compelling. I'd never use the thing as a tablet, but boy, would I love to have a laptop with 3000x2000 resolution.

 

[HeXen]

So true about the screens. That's why I find the Surface Book so compelling. I'd never use the thing as a tablet, but boy, would I love to have a laptop with 3000x2000 resolution.

The smaller the screen, the more pointless high resolution becomes unless it's a VR headset or something.

 

[nerp]

The smaller the screen, the more pointless high resolution becomes unless it's a VR headset or something.

Not really. Scaling works well for people who can't read tiny text (i can read tiny text) and it the better resolution makes things look better, period. Focusing soley on the resolution doesn't take into account how much better the screen actually is when you're physically using and looking at it. My main reason for mentioning the surface book is the 3:2 aspect ratio, which is practically unheard of for laptops today.

 

[SparkyJJO]

The smaller the screen, the more pointless high resolution becomes unless it's a VR headset or something.

My Galaxy S4 has a higher resolution than most laptops with screens several times the size. It's pathetic.

 

[CZroe]

...Never seen this issue on OS X and I keep as much hidden as possible if it's not something containing information I need, not sure about Linux distro's but Windows has always had several UI problems...

Really? Moments ago I stepped up to my mother's unattended Mac, paused the news stream she had left running in a Chrome window that was only using a quarter of the screen, and moved down to the center of the bottom of the screen. I waited a second and got nothing. I moved a little back and forth trending a little right of center then waited another second and nothing. I moved a little back and forth trending a little left of center then waited another second. Just as I was giving up and moving away it finally sprang up. The sad part is that it would have been visible the entire time if it were not set to auto-hide.