# Win7 Taskbar Overlap Issue: 5000 Gold Reward



## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

I have been having this problem for a while now, When I open certain programs they open up underneath the taskbar which I have positioned at the top of the screen. I want to find a way to reserve the screen space so it no longer does this. I do not want to hide the taskbar, or move it. I have tried locking it which does no good.

Here's a screenshot of the problem, 5000 gold to the person who helps me fix this in a way that keeps things the way they are.


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## Solace (Jan 12, 2010)

Just for reference post a SS of your Taskbar Properties like this:


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)




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## Solace (Jan 12, 2010)

Despite this guy's underlying motives, he's *having the same problem* as you. This doesn't help, as in provide a solution, but you might search for similar instances with a resolution.

As noted in the posts, you might see if this happens due to the Taskbar or if it happens only with certain programs. You might try starting in Safe Mode as well and see if the problem persists (or go the msconfig route).

Good luck.


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## snail (Oct 13, 2008)

I've never had that problem with my Windows 7. 
...then again, my taskbar is at the bottom.


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

thanks, yea I read a few similar reports, it's definitely an issue with windows as it is usually the windows media player that does it the most frequently. You think by now they would have fixed the issue but I guess people are so used to the task bar being at the bottom of the screen the problem must not come up very often.


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## zwanglos (Jan 13, 2010)

Hrmm... I can actually just drag single taskbar items and open programs around at will. Just a simple drag & drop thing...


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

.............?


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## zwanglos (Jan 13, 2010)

Urk, sorry, I _totally_ misread what the problem was 

Errrm... a sort-of solution that floats about the interwubs is that you click the open program (anywhere), hit *Alt+Space* to bring up the main menu of the program, then hit* M* (for Move). You can then reposition the window using your arrow keys, then hit *Enter* or* Left Click* (Mouse) to finalize the positioning.

Cures the symptom, at least.


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## zwanglos (Jan 13, 2010)

Also, saw reference to a program called DesktopCoral (<- link) which does what you're looking for. Haven't tested/used it for myself, so I can't tell you anything more.


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

yea I was looking into that but it isn't the type of fix I am really looking for. I was hoping for more of a registry fix or patch to solve the issue. Installing a third party software seems like it would just complicate things having to load it at startup every time. I think I've managed to side step the issue by switching media players atm. Thanks though


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## Therapist (Nov 16, 2009)

Yeah, I don't really care about gold but this is kinda my field, so...

1) Move your taskbar to the right or bottom.
2) Open the program that defaults to the position where it's underlapping your taskbar when it's at the top.
3) Move it to the center of your screen.
4) Close it.
5) Move your taskbar back.
6) Re-open program. Profit.

Repeat the process for any programs with a default screen position underneath the taskbar.


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## Solace (Jan 12, 2010)

Richard Mongler said:


> Yeah, I don't really care about gold but this is kinda my field, so...
> 
> 1) Move your taskbar to the right or bottom.
> 2) Open the program that defaults to the position where it's underlapping your taskbar when it's at the top.
> ...


Unfortunately, as RRob outlined, this doesn't work for all programs. Some applications are written to open in an explicit area of the screen and it may infringe on the positioning of the taskbar. Take for instance Media Player Classic: it always opens in the middle of the main screen (regardless of the number of screens you have or their orientation.

Some programs/applications allow you to adjust the window position the application opens in manually (via an options menu), but I believe that the applications that RRob was experiencing trouble with may not be so easy to fix (if at all).

I've also had applications which cleverly justify themselves off screen because point (-1280,1080) or whatever native resolution the programmer used didn't exist on my desktop. This is part of quality control in programming that really needs more attention from some groups. =/

Edit: I love the Win Media Player registry names: "MAC Access Control" aka "Media Access Control Access Control"


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

as far as I can tell there is no fix for this problem besides using third party software. The windows forums have plenty of these complaints so I imagine windows will send out a patch to resolve the issue within a few months, hopefully they will take care of the remember folder settings while they are at it also. For some reason they decided to have the settings apply globally in certain area's. I really don't understand what all the hype is about 7, it's nice, but I could do the same things on vista.


thanks for all the effort everyone


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## Solace (Jan 12, 2010)

RighteousRob said:


> as far as I can tell there is no fix for this problem besides using third party software. The windows forums have plenty of these complaints so I imagine windows will send out a patch to resolve the issue within a few months, hopefully they will take care of the remember folder settings while they are at it also. For some reason they decided to have the settings apply globally in certain area's. I really don't understand what all the hype is about 7, it's nice, but I could do the same things on vista.
> 
> 
> thanks for all the effort everyone


With regards to the windows on the desktop: no, Microsoft probably won't issue a "fix" since the majority of the time it is an issue created by the application itself and not how Windows handles it. This problem has existed for a while now, not just in Win7 (and likely existed in the betas as well).

Windows 7 is, like the way Vista was to XP, something of an incremental upgrade to Vista with respect to the "user experience." With each new OS there is a slight "evolutionary" change in the Start menu and taskbar area that is supposed to improve the "usability" of the desktop environment as a whole. Because this is a mass-market, consumer-oriented OS they can only make gradual changes so that they don't alienate their customer base. Other OSs can get away with larger -- or smaller -- incremental changes due to the market segment that they sell to.

Look back at Internet Explorer 6, it looks vastly different than IE8. But with IE7, you can easily see and understand the transition that was made between the two and it seems much more intuitive.

As far as folder rights, this is something I've been struggling with on my main computer. Folders inherit their rights (and by default their layout/view) from the drive or from a specific system folder. In Vista (I don't know about Win7) they screwed this up from how it had worked in XP. Basically now they treat folders as a type of file (I believe) and they've screwed the inheritance of permissions up for these (usually causing recursive rights inheritance).

I was just looking this up a few days ago, but if anyone is interested I'll post the TechNet article about it. There isn't really a way to fix it (although there is something of a work around that may work part of the time).


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

true but they had ways you could fix it in past releases. in 7 there is no fix, that's why I imagine they'll want to do something about it. Even though there is a lot of hype surrounding 7 I don't think they want consumer complaints to catch any momentum so they may find a workaround for this. Windows applications that come installed with 7 have the same issue as other third party apps, so it's not as if they can say it's the software people are using, they released it in a way that the problem already existed straight out of the box.


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## Dick Mongler (Mar 3, 2010)

Spades said:


> Unfortunately, as RRob outlined, this doesn't work for all programs. Some applications are written to open in an explicit area of the screen and it may infringe on the positioning of the taskbar. Take for instance Media Player Classic: it always opens in the middle of the main screen (regardless of the number of screens you have or their orientation.
> 
> Some programs/applications allow you to adjust the window position the application opens in manually (via an options menu), but I believe that the applications that RRob was experiencing trouble with may not be so easy to fix (if at all).
> 
> ...


Guy, he's on Windows 7. Windows Media Player will have to be 10+. Bringing up Media Player Classic in this case is like referencing the side effects of bloodletting in a medical conversation -- obsolete and barely related.

Regardless, newer versions of Windows Media Player do retain screen position settings after close and the proposed solution will work for it, considering that's the one program he's shown a screenshot for. If he has the issue with other programs as well, he will have to deal with them on a case-by-case basis -- some programs will have registry settings he'll be able to edit with different X,Y's, etc.


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## Solace (Jan 12, 2010)

Dick Mongler said:


> Guy, he's on Windows 7. Windows Media Player will have to be 10+. Bringing up Media Player Classic in this case is like referencing the side effects of bloodletting in a medical conversation -- obsolete and barely related.


You'll note that I said "Media Player Classic" and not "Windows Media Player 6." You might want to check out MPC as it is a light-weight alternative to other popular media players (such as Windows Media Player 10+ and VLC). Sorry if this caused some confusion for you.



> Regardless, newer versions of Windows Media Player do retain screen position settings after close and the proposed solution will work for it, considering that's the one program he's shown a screenshot for.


I assumed that was no longer relevant as he had already tried that. Indeed, he apparently had already looked into a registry fix for it as well, though I did mention it again.



> If he has the issue with other programs as well, he will have to deal with them on a case-by-case basis -- some programs will have registry settings he'll be able to edit with different X,Y's, etc.


Yes, I think that was discussed earlier and he was not able to change such settings for WMP11. Again, apologies if my anecdote regarding Media Player Classic confused you.


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