Task Bar "always on top": NOT!

  • Thread starter Thread starter surface9
  • Start date Start date
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surface9

I have selected "always on top" and "auto hide" for my taskbar (which
normally appears on the bottom for me).

I then run a slide show which allows me to display the cursor during
the slide show, and, I can move the mouse around, BUT, when I move the
movue to the bottom, the task bar DOES NOT APPEAR. It remains
hidden. When I go through the very same steps in windows 98se, the
task bar will appear during the slide show if, and only if, I move the
cursor to the bottom.

How do I get windows 2000 (sp4) to accomodate the "always on top"
aspect of the taskbar under "auto hide" while a slide show is in
progress and I move the cursor to the bottom area where the task bar
is? I need to be able to see the task bar WITHOUT DISTRUBING THE
SLIDE SHOW, click on one of the icons, and then move the cursor away
from the bottom area so that the task bar will dissappear again and
the slide show continued without disruption. I can do this in windows
98se, so I am looking for whatever switch I need to tick to make
windows2000 behave the same way.

Thanks,

Littleberry
 
Hi,

You might try a workaround if you don't find a better answer. Run your
slide show in a window dragged to almost full screen size and see if
your taskbar works any better for you. I know some of those mini movies
that run full screen in Powerpoint kill the mouse action so the keyboard
comes into play.



---==X={}=X==---

Jim Self

AVIATION ANIMATION, the internet's largest depository.
http://avanimation.avsupport.com

Your only internet source for spiral staircase plans.
http://jself.com/stair/Stair.htm

Experimental Aircraft Association #140897
EAA Technical Counselor #4562
 
Hi,

You might try a workaround if you don't find a better answer. Run your
slide show in a window dragged to almost full screen size and see if
your taskbar works any better for you. I know some of those mini movies
that run full screen in Powerpoint kill the mouse action so the keyboard
comes into play.

---==X={}=X==---

Jim Self

AVIATION ANIMATION, the internet's largest depository.http://avanimation.avsupport.com

Your only internet source for spiral staircase plans.http://jself.com/stair/Stair.htm

Experimental Aircraft Association #140897
EAA Technical Counselor #4562
Click to expand...

The slide show I am using is "ThumbsPlus", and it ONLY runs in full
screen. What gets me is that it works so beautifully in Windows 98se,
and I just can't understand how this hiccup got into windows 2000
without someone noticing it - The programming behind thumbsplus is the
very same for both systems (win98se and win2k), so, it must mean that
windows 2000 responds to ThumbsPlus's system calls in a different way
so that it overrides the "always on top" selection of the task bar
wherease in windows 98se the system gives thumbsplus a fullscreen but
without overriding the task bars "always on top" attribute.
How come microsof didn't catch this a long time ago? I am hoping
there is a switch somewhere (maybe hidden), that will let me enjoy the
task bar's attribute on win2k as it is on win98se. I haven't tried
this with XP yet, I wonder how it will work there....
 
Hi again,

.......Full screen only.......

That's too bad.

.......How come microsof didn't catch this a long time ago?

They may have. There's no two computers the same anywhere, and I doubt
Microsoft has checked every software installation combination there is,
so.......

.......I haven't tried this with XP yet, I wonder how it will work there....

Just a guess, but I'd think about as wonderfully as it does in 2000.


---==X={}=X==---

Jim Self

AVIATION ANIMATION, the internet's largest depository.
http://avanimation.avsupport.com

Your only internet source for spiral staircase plans.
http://jself.com/stair/Stair.htm

Experimental Aircraft Association #140897
EAA Technical Counselor #4562
 
Try pressing the "windows" key in between the Alt and Ctrl keys. It will
usually make the task bar apear as well as opening the start menu when I
have a full screen program like this.
 
Try pressing the "windows" key in between the Alt and Ctrl keys. It will
usually make the task bar apear as well as opening the start menu when I
have a full screen program like this.
Click to expand...

Jim,

When I pressed the "windows" key it terminated the slide show. The
only key that will not end the slide show is the space bar, which pre-
emtively advances to the next slide.

I think it has to do with the way windows 2000 handles "full screen"
GDI as opposed to windows 98se. Even in windows 98se, if the program
uses DirectDraw, then the task bar stays hidden, but, Thumbs does not
use DirectDraw but just a regular full-screen which allows the task
bar's always on top attribute to take focus over that region of the
screen. Windows 2000 either prohibits this, or, it doesn't allow any
task to gain focus over any part of another tasks' full screen. It
isn't a function of my particular PC (I have 5 PC's, all behave the
same in this respect), but, it is a difference in the software
implementation of the FULL SCREEN attribute, or, the differing
implementation of "alwasy on top" attribute. They probably didn't
bother to have specs this detailed for either system, and so there was
no need to insure both systems behaved the same.

I was hoping there was a system switch I could find that would allow
"always on top" override (or whatever they would call it), but, alas,
I guess this was just too detailed for the msoft team.

This is a good reason for me to hang onto win98se - it has some nifty
features that didn't survive the upgrades.
 
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