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Task Bar "always on top": NOT!


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Guest surface9
Posted

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

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Guest PA20Pilot
Posted

Re: Task Bar "always on top": NOT!

 

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

Guest surface9
Posted

Re: Task Bar "always on top": NOT!

 

On Oct 30, 10:24 pm, PA20Pilot <PA20Pi...@faa.gov> wrote:

> 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

 

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....

Guest PA20Pilot
Posted

Re: Task Bar "always on top": NOT!

 

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

Posted

Re: Task Bar "always on top": NOT!

 

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.

Guest surface9
Posted

Re: Task Bar "always on top": NOT!

 

On Oct 31, 9:34 pm, "JM" <jason.mangiaf...@verizon.net> wrote:

> 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.

 

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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