buttons at bottom of screen

[RSF]

I have a question about the buttons at the bottom of the screen, to the right
of the start button and the icons and to the left of the clock and icons.
I'm sorry that I do not know the proper name. When I come back to work in
the mornings there will be several empty ones, after a weekend there will be
up to 20 at the bottom of my screen. They do not say anything but you have
to close them out individually. Is there a program working that I might not
know about? How can I find out what is causing this and then stop it.
Thanks so much!

[PA Bear]

Such "ghost" icons have been a bug in Win98 since Day One. Deal with them
as you have been doing.

In your 'after a weekend' scenario, did you leave 20 or more taskbar icons
open when you left work on Friday?
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (Shell, IE/OE) & Security

RSF wrote:
> I have a question about the buttons at the bottom of the screen, to the
> right of the start button and the icons and to the left of the clock and
> icons. I'm sorry that I do not know the proper name. When I come back to
> work in the mornings there will be several empty ones, after a weekend
> there will be up to 20 at the bottom of my screen. They do not say
> anything but you have to close them out individually. Is there a program
> working that I might not know about? How can I find out what is causing
> this and then stop it. Thanks so much!

[Ron Badour]

The area to the immediate right of the start button is called the Quick
Launch (if you have it enabled). The area surrounding the clock is called
the tray (system tray, systray). The area in between the two is called the
taskbar. I will assume that you are talking about the center area
(taskbar).

1. The blank buttons are often screensaver related so try a different one
or don't use one at all--use power management to shut the monitor off after
a few minutes. Also see:

Icon Is Displayed on the Taskbar After Closing the Screen Saver [Q280722]
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q280/7/22.asp

2. Update your video driver.

3. If the blank buttons started immediately after a software installation,
uninstall that software.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP Windows 98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"RSF" > wrote in message
...
>I have a question about the buttons at the bottom of the screen, to the
>right
> of the start button and the icons and to the left of the clock and icons.
> I'm sorry that I do not know the proper name. When I come back to work in
> the mornings there will be several empty ones, after a weekend there will
> be
> up to 20 at the bottom of my screen. They do not say anything but you
> have
> to close them out individually. Is there a program working that I might
> not
> know about? How can I find out what is causing this and then stop it.
> Thanks so much!

[glee]

As already mentioned in Ron Badour's detailed reply, switching screensavers and/or
updating the video drivers sometimes helps.

These ghost buttons are often caused by one of these MS updates:
The Win98SE Mapped drives Shutdown update
The Win98SE 1394 Storage Supplement

They may have been installed by the manufacturer, or by Windows Update...if you
don't need them, uninstall them. Search for these INF files:

260067un.inf
242975un.inf

Right-click the INF files and click Install from the context menu, to remove the
updates.

You must have Folder Options>View tab set to "Show All Files", as INF files are
"hidden" files.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"RSF" > wrote in message
...
> I have a question about the buttons at the bottom of the screen, to the right
> of the start button and the icons and to the left of the clock and icons.
> I'm sorry that I do not know the proper name. When I come back to work in
> the mornings there will be several empty ones, after a weekend there will be
> up to 20 at the bottom of my screen. They do not say anything but you have
> to close them out individually. Is there a program working that I might not
> know about? How can I find out what is causing this and then stop it.
> Thanks so much!