some VERY annoying taskbar problem

[KoMoDo]

hey guys,

i think this has started ever since my dad installed SP2 on his laptop (really dont know why you would want to install SP2 :-P)... so basically, you only have 1 window on the taskbar to use, instead of almost the whole taskbar, its kind of hard to explain, so heres a screenie i took
http://img16.exs.cx/img16/488/taskbar.jpg

any ideas on how i can fix it ? my brother called microsoft israel but they never answered back with the solution....
please help as this is really frustrating (mainly my father since i dont use that laptop :-P)

also, you cant see the clock in the screenie, dont worry, its there, i just didnt edit the picture correctly because the resolution is abit different from the one im used to... its there, it only affected the left side as you can see, i have a few programs opened, and i have to use those 2 arrows (up and down) to move through the applications, instead of having them all over the taskbar, like a regular windows machine :-P

Thanks guys,

KoMoDo

[ktkendall]

Right click on the taskbar and then go to properties..

[KoMoDo]

then what ?
PRETTY sure i went thru everything over there a long time ago... i know what im doing, unless theres some hidden place or something like that i havent gone to over there, dont think its there....

KoMoDo

[mrmister1]

Right click on the taskbar and choose Unlock Taskbar. From there you should be able to move the separator over.

[KoMoDo]

thats the thing, there are about 10 of them... its messed up, and ive tried that already, they just dont go away...

KoMoDo

[Doobie]

Originally Posted by KoMoDo thats the thing, there are about 10 of them... its messed up, and ive tried that already, they just dont go away... KoMoDo

by ten im asumming your meaning windows... do as mrmister1 says.... from the picture it shows your taskbar is locked... Unlock it then click on vertial bar and move right.

[KoMoDo]

ok, just tried.. and NOPE, im moving, tried each of the seperators (when i meant 10, i meant 10 seperatores, trust me.. if i unlock it, its a mess)
anyways, thats not the way, i tried moving all of them right, left, etc.. and no go...

any other ideas guys ? maybe its not SP2 related, u never know.. its really annoying though.
and trust me, i wouldn't post this message before i tried doing what you guys said, i know a lil bit about comps... trust me :-P

10x for the help guys,

KoMoDo

[KoMoDo]

ok guys, i just right clicked> toolbars
and theres like 20 "The language toolbar" i think thats it... my brother told me he unchecked all.. and if im not wrong he said it fixed it, but then, if he restarted, it was all back...
so i figure its either a bug or spyware... what do you think ?

10x,

KoMoDo

[flanzig1]

Go into task bar properties and uncheck "hide inactive icons"

[KoMoDo]

i think i have already tried it, will try tomorrow since laptop is shut down now and im off to bed, late here.. school tomorrow

gn, if anyone has any other ideas plz let me know, ill try that one tomorrow when im back from school..

10x,

KoMoDo

[kram 2.0]

You might see if this might be spyware of some sort - run a full scan of it looks like McAfee after updating, then Adaware 6 SE and Spybot S&D. That just doesn't look too normal to be in a normal Windows Environment to me.

kram

[KoMoDo]

ok, the tip flanzig gave didnt help at all.. :-P
and kram, my dad keeps a close eye on spyware and viruses, i just scanned his computer using spybot search and destroy and ad-aware, and it found nothing... doing a mcafee test right now, prolly gonna finish in an hour..

any other ideas guys ? if you need any more pictures/info just let me know.

Thanks,

KoMoDo

[KoMoDo]

ok, did all the scans possible (anti virus scan aswell) and it didnt find anything...

what do you guys think i should do ?

Thanks,

KoMoDo

[KoMoDo]

bump...

comon guys this is really important, please help!

Thanks,

KoMoDo

[mrmister1]

Post a screenshot of what it looks like when it's unlocked.

Right click on the taskbar, go to toolbars and uncheck any that you are not using.

[KoMoDo]

ok, good idea, thought about doing so... my dad has the laptop with him and he's at work right now so ill take that screenie later today, can anyone think of what to do till then maybe ?

Thanks,

KoMoDo

[mrmister1]

As I said in my last post, uncheck anything that you are not using such as Quick Launch.

[KoMoDo]

well, thats the thing, ill take a screenie of that aswell, once ill get a hold of the laptop, if i right click > toolbars i see a list of, if im not wrong, checked "The language bar" toolbars, thats whats causing the mess, besides all those, the only thing that's checked is the Quick launch toolbar.

KoMoDo

[mrmister1]

When you say the screen went balnk when you restarted, what do you mean? Did it boot to Windows? Did the desktop and taskbar show up?

[Doobie]

I personally feel that you are not doing it right... unlocking... do as mrmister1 says... post another screenshot.

[KoMoDo]

i know im doing it currectly, tried it a million times...
and where did you see that i wrote the screen goes blank ? dont get what you mean...

anyways, heres a screenie with all the toolbars and the unlocked taskbar.
http://img90.exs.cx/img90/3872/35-annoying.jpg

Thanks for the help guys,

KoMoDo

[glc]

Read the sticky thread in the Security forum, then post a HijackThis log.

[KoMoDo]

ok, i got hijackthis on this computer, gonna get the latest version (the one i have was the latest version a few months ago, might've changed) and then try it on the laptop, again i dont have it, but hopefully ill do this in a few hours from now.
also, do you prefer that i put the file as a .txt file and upload it to the web, or just post it right here ?

Thanks,

KoMoDo

[mrmister1]

Thought it said blank, not back.

From the screenshot it looks like spyware, because it says The Language Bar. I don't think that's something that's built in.

[glc]

Post it here. Make sure you run it immediately after a fresh reboot before opening anything else.

Latest official version is 1.98.2, there's also a 1.99 beta out there. For this purpose, anything is good enough, even 1.97.7.

[KoMoDo]

ok my brother and dad are currently using the laptop (looking for a laptop to buy for my sister, as you can find in my General Hardware post.. :-P)
i will do that later, my brother does work as a tech support guy in our ISP... and he told me ppl would call them if its spyware/trojan... i dont know though, might be new/rare or something....
they keep saying it happened STRAIGHT after installing SP2, could it be my dad downloaded it off an unknown source and it had spyware that anti-spyware progs cant find ? im pretty sure he got it off MS's site, and thats what he told me.. but i dont know, cant think of anything else...

so you're saying i should restart and as soon as the computer load, close everything that i can in the system tray, even Mcafee anti virus if possible, just everything, run it, save the log, now i noticed it saves it as .log, should i do something about that ? or upload the .log file somewhere and give you guys the link ?

KoMoDo

[KoMoDo]

k guys, heres a log file of "hijackthis" on this laptop

http://lilfeatha.sitesled.com/hijackthis.log

Thanks,

KoMoDo

[glc]

That's a clean log. Whatever is doing it is not in the Run keys. Logically thinking about it, there has to be something somewhere in the registry that controls the toolbars. Search the registry for "the language bar" and see if you find something that has a whole bunch of them - if you do, export a copy of the key and delete them. I'd also make a system restore point before doing this, just in case.

[KoMoDo]

how do i "export a copy of the key" ?
i know how to export the registry, just in case i ever need to go back, but how do i export that key ?

and ill try that tomorrow, the laptops' power cable died or something, so theres no power, and we'll get a new one possibly tomorrow.

Thanks,

KoMoDo

[glc]

When you export, in the save dialog, you choose either ALL or "selected branch".