6 replies to this topic

[THEnub]

About a day ago, for no apparent reason, my Task bar simply disappeared. It's not occurring to any of the other profiles, which really puzzles me. I don't recall downloading anything malicious, or visiting any sites of that would do that. The closest I came to it was downloading an apparently legit file, and realizing someone had swapped the contents (so I deleted it, without ever unraring it).

Now, what's going on is just that the Taskbar is gone (the bar at the bottom with the windows logo), but explorer.exe is still running (when I close and restart explorer.exe, it stays the same). When I turn on the computer, the taskbar is there for about 30-40 secs, and I can see icons appearing in the corner, but then it disappears. The desktop is appearing normally other than that. I ran a full scan with Malwarebytes and it came across the "NoActiveDesktopChanges (Hijack.DisplayProperties)", which based upon other topics is harmless and isn't the cause of this.

Here's a Screen of my desktop:



Here's the log just in case:

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.41
Database version: 2809
Windows 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1

9/16/2009 2:06:15 PM
mbam-log-2009-09-16 (14-06-15).txt 

Scan type: Full Scan (C:\|E:\|)
Objects scanned: 347686
Time elapsed: 41 minute(s), 30 second(s)

Memory Processes Infected: 0
Memory Modules Infected: 0
Registry Keys Infected: 0
Registry Values Infected: 0
Registry Data Items Infected: 1
Folders Infected: 0
Files Infected: 0

Memory Processes Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Memory Modules Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Keys Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Values Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Data Items Infected:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoActiveDesktopChanges (Hijack.DisplayProperties) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

Folders Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Files Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

[swagger]

If you hit the "Windows" key (the microsoft logo), does the task bar appear? It may have been set to auto-hide... Have you tried putting your mouse cursor on the bottom of your screen to see if it appears? If it does, right click on properties and uncheck "auto-hide the taskbar".

[THEnub]

swagger, on Sep 16 2009, 02:56 PM, said:

If you hit the "Windows" key (the microsoft logo), does the task bar appear? It may have been set to auto-hide... Have you tried putting your mouse cursor on the bottom of your screen to see if it appears? If it does, right click on properties and uncheck "auto-hide the taskbar".

Yes it does, and yes I have. It doesn't appear, it's not set to Auto-Hide. As well, when I go to the bottom, I've tried click-dragging, as though it had been lowered, not the case. I've even tried multiple resolutions, that's not the problem issue (it's not out of frame due to res).

[swagger]

That's extremely weird... I'm out of suggestions at this point. Anyone else got something?

[miekiemoes]

Hi,

From the screenshot you posted, it looks like your taskbar isn't really missing but replaced here (as I see there in the middle below).
I also see a shortcut to Object dock on your desktop, so it makes sense Object Dock is doing this.
http://www.stardock....cts/objectdock/

Edited to add... It's indeed Object Dock doing this:
http://forums.majorg...ad.php?t=144758
http://www.stardock.com/products/objectbar...sp#System_Tray_

[swagger]

Hmm, I'm still getting used to Vista/7 and this whole dock concept. Good catch miekiemoes... So does THEnub need to download that SDMCP file so that he/she can see the taskbar? If I read that correctly, that sounds like the course of action since the taskbar never showed up.

[miekiemoes]

I guess it must be somewhere in Object Dock preferences where you can adjust this. This is what I found on the Object Dock site:

Quote

If you want to remove the Windows Taskbar and use ObjectDock instead, make sure you use the Hide the Windows Taskbar function in Dock Settings as this will completely remove the Win taskbar.