Windows 10: Windows Taskbar Appearance Has Changed and I Can't Get It Back to What I Want

Returning to Windows after 16 years of Mac and it has been extremely frustrating as nothing is intuitive. My latest problem is that my Windows taskbar was staying on all the time, even when watching Netflix full screen. I was able to get into Taskbar Settings and make it hide automatically. However, when I closed the Settings window by clicking on the X in the top right corner, the window closed but then I had a little floating bar above the Taskbar that said Settings, and now it was staying on even when I returned to Netflix on full-screen. I started right-clicking on the Taskbar to try to get the little Settings bar to close and then a bunch of new icons suddenly appeared on my Taskbar, and the icons I was previously used to seeing got all squished up on the left hand side and now I have to scroll through arrows to see them.


These are the icons that suddenly appeared and when I right-click on them, I can't unpin any of them:


Folder with my name on it "Richard Selin"

"This PC"

"Libraries"

"Network"

"Control Panel"


These five icons now take up well over half the length of the Taskbar, not too good considering I don't want any of them to be there.


The icons that got squished, that previously were all laid out nicely on the Taskbar, and that I want restored in a line across the bottom of the Taskbar, are basically all the apps or programs I have pinned to the Taskbar and have a blue line under them when the app is running.


Hopefully this description makes sense to somebody out there.

:)

 

Taskbar bug: switching to another window -will not appear at the front


Follow either of these steps to fix the issue with the Active window hiding behind.

Method 1:
I suggest you to disable window by hovering over it with the mouse and check if it helps. To do so I suggest you to try the below given steps and check if it helps:

1. Press Windows key + X key and click on Control Panel.
2. Select or click Ease of Access.
3. Click or tap onEase of Access Centre.
4. Click on Make the Mouse Easier to Use was uncheck Activate Window by hovering over it with the mouse.
5. Check if issue is resolved.

Method 2:
I would suggest you to completely uninstall the touchpad driver and reinstall it. Kindly follow the below given steps.

1. Press “Windows key + X” and click on “Device Manager”.
2. In the list of devices, you should see the touchpad drivers.
3. Right click on the device and then select "Uninstall".
4. In the uninstall dialog, make sure you select the option to delete the driver package from the system. This causes the driver package installed earlier to be deleted.
5. In the Action menu of Device manager, select “Scan for Hardware changes” option. This will cause the device driver to be reinstalled. Once the driver is installed, close all windows and restart the computer.

 

Taskbar bug: switching to another window -will not appear at the front


I have been trying to fix this for months. Your solution Method 1 seemed to work. THANK YOU!!!!

 

Taskbar appearing in full screen mode and stopping video or game from working

Hello Brad,

To assist you better, please provide the following information:

• Have you made any recent changes prior having this issue?
• Have you tried to update your device to the latest build?

Meanwhile, may we suggest performing the provided steps from KristenKim
on this thread.

We look forward to your response.

Regards.