Taskbar not on top...


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Is this just me dreaming, or, in Vista, wasn't there an option to set whether the taskbar was on top or not? This meant if the user set the taskbar to not be on top, it would be displayed at all times when windows are not maximised, but as soon as a window became maximised, the taskbar would be hidden. I found this incredibly useful because I like seeing the new Windows 7 taskbar and usually have my windows not in a maximised state; however, sometimes, I do like to maximise my windows, for example, when listening to music and watching the awesome Zune 'Now playing' screen or when watching a movie.

I really would not like to have my taskbar set to auto-hide as that would hide it all the time and leave that horrible line shown when it is hidden.

If anybody knows how to get the activity I described in the first paragraph, I'd be extremely grateful for any help :happy:

Thank you in advance (Y) :)

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In Windows 7, the new Superbar is awesome IMO. However the Taskbar Properties Control Panel has removed the “Keep the taskbar on top of other windows” option and made it on by default. This also results in maximized windows not being able to cover the taskbar. If you prefer to use the Win key to bring the Taskbar forward and don’t care if it’s covered up, and want the screen real estate, this post is for you.

Since the UI option was gone, the obvious solution is to find the registry entry that Explorer uses for that setting. My search brought me here. It’s a bit difficult to digest for the non-programmer so I’ll lay it out here.

There are a bunch of OS-specific intricacies, but fortunately it seems to not have changed since XP so we only need to be concerned about that variant.

The registry key we seek is at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects

The value is a binary value called Settings. We are concerned with the 8th byte (double click to edit, it’s the first two numbers on the second line).

If you’re not sure about what you’re doing here, best to back up the registry key we’re changing so you can restore it. Better yet, just forget about this hack, have someone who’s done this stuff before do it for you.

Back to the link I posted, there is a legend marked with “SINGLE OPTIONS” and “MULTIPLE OPTIONS”. You should ignore it since it is far more complicated than it needs to be. Our byte in Settings breaks down into bit flags:

■0?1: Auto Hide Taskbar

■0?2: Always on Top

■0?4: Small icons in CLASSIC Start Menu (doesn’t apply to the small icon setting for the new menu).

■0?8: Hide Clock

■0?10 – 0?80: Who knows. Reserved? Always 0? Probably best not to change these.

If you know what these mean, you have all the info you need to turn off Always on Top now (basically, turn off bit flag 0?2). Just be sure to process kill and restart Explorer after you do it to force the setting to take effect (you may need to lock/unlock the taskbar to get the watermark to jump under the taskbar where it belongs now).

sauce

Edited by Kirbeh
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  • 1 month later...

Only post I have found suggesting any fix for this. I do understand a bit of programming, hex editing etc. However I don't follow the explanation. What should the second line be changed to in order to turn off "always on top"? Has anyone found an answer, because google is not my friend on this one?

Like others on the site link I find that if I change the value to .eg 05 when window restarts it is changed back to something else

Edited by johnyysmith
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