Windows 7 Application tray is unusable when applications have more than 1 window

[ToddW]

My application tray broke after a recent windows update. I may be using the wrong name. I am referring to the application icons that appear by default at the bottom of the screen. Now when I have more than 1 window open for an app and I click in the application icon, the open windows blink on and then disappear. Before the update, when I clicked on an application icon, a small display representing each open window would appear and allow me to select from all of the open windows associated with the application. I am sometimes able to keep the display for each open window visible. Unfortunately, if I select in the display for an open window, the window comes up, behind its small representation and then the real window goes away when my mouse leaves the small window representation.

I also just noticed that Alt Tab is broken and does not cycle through my open windows, but Windows Tab does still work.

 

[Fixer1234]

Try something just as a diagnostic, although it may be a way to fix your problem. Right-click on a blank part of the system tray. If Lock The Taskbar is checked, temporarily un-check it. Select Properties. On the Taskbar tab, there is a pull-down selection for Taskbar Buttons, which probably says Always Combine, Hide Labels. Select Never Combine, then click OK. See if the icons behave properly. If so and you want the stacking feature back, go back in and set the choice back to Always Combine, and click OK. See if the icons go back to proper behavior. Sometimes, just forcing it to re-save the settings will clear up corruption. If not, preventing icon stacking may serve as a workaround until somebody comes up with something else to try.

 

[Fixer1234]

Additional thought--actually, your tray icons, themselves, are behaving correctly, the problem is what Windows is doing with the setting. Try running sfc /scannow from the start menu search or run box. This will check for corruption in your Windows system files.