The dancing taskbar 1

[Mike Lewis]

I've got two computers, both running XP.

On the laptop, if I close an application whose button is in the middle of the taskbar, it simply disappears from the taskbar, and the other buttons are immediately adjusted accordingly.

On the desktop, the button disappears from the taskbar, but the buttons to the right slowly slide left-wards to take its place. The net result is the same, but I find the visual effect on the desktop machine very irritating.

In both cases, the taskbars have the same settings. Specifically:
"Lock the taskbar" - No
"Auto-hide the taskbar" - No
"Keep taskbar on top" - Yes
"Group similar taskbar buttons" - No
"Show Quicklaunch" - Yes
"Hide inactive icons" - Yes

Is there anything I can do to prevent this slow animated effect on the desktop machine.

Given the hassles that many of us have with our PCs, this is not exactly a serious problem. But I am prone to sea sickness, and this does nothing to help.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[Mike Lewis]

Quick follow-up to my previous post: I should have mentioned that the laptop runs under XP Pro, whereas the desktop (the one with the unwanted effect) is XP Home. I've just realised this is an XP Pro forum. I hope it's OK to post my question here.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[bcastner]

right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Performance. The settings here likely differ between your laptop and desktop.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Bcastner,

That's what I call quick service. I did what you said, and it solved the problem instantly. In fact, I cleared all the options listed, for good measure.

Many thanks for the excellent advice.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[bcastner]

You might find this MS KB an interesting read:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;819101

Happy Easter,
Bill Castner

 

[Mike Lewis]

Bill,

Thanks for that. I haven't experienced the problems that the article mentions, but I'll clear the relevant checkboxes anyway.

In general, I like to cut out as much of the fancy visual confectionery as possible. Must be my mainframe upbringing.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[linney]

This will give you that old fashioned look and Classic style.

How Do I Make Windows XP Work More Like Windows Me or Windows 98?

http://www.andyrathbone.com/tips/xpclassic.html#top

And for good measure you can Stop and Disable the Windows Theme Service.

 

[bcastner]

We have a forum member (who shall remain anonymous) would complained that XP was progressively slowing down. No there are a lot of great threads, MS KB articles, etc. that can handle strictly OS issues related to this.

So, having exhausted these resources, I asked for a screenshot of their desktop. There were real-time applications running in the background to provide constant weather radar feeds, an atomic clock display for six countries, and about five layers of transperancy applied to the icons shown.

At the moment it is either/or: your choice. If you want the nice effects, you will pay a performance penalty. So, I am with you with your mainframe sentiments.

I am in the Beta program for Longhorn, and my intention is to build a machine just for that testing. One of my testing plans is to compare the results with full Avilon/Glass GUI features, and one without. I expect a difference, but the promise is that it will not be such a performance hit as the XP GUI.

We shall see.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Linney,

Thanks for that link.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)