Windows 7 Taskbar active windows do not combine with pinned icon

[vev46]

Launching an application from the taskbar results in a second icon (with a border) appearing next to the pinned icon I launched from, instead of combining with it. The strange thing is, that this happens on 2 of the 3 accounts on my PC, and I cannot figure how to change it to see only one icon, and I could not find an answer online.

Can anyone help?

 

[Saltgrass]

If you right click the Taskbar and select properties, do you show the "Taskbar buttons" setting as "Always combine"?

If you do, are you running any third party software that tweeks the desktop or any icons?

Does this happen with all of your programs?

 

[vev46]

If you right click the Taskbar and select properties, do you show the "Taskbar buttons" setting as "Always combine"?

If you do, are you running any third party software that tweeks the desktop or any icons?

Does this happen with all of your programs?

I'm not running any TPS that tweeks the desktop that I know of. The strange thing is that on my account on the PC this does not occur; that is, when I launch Firefox, for example, the pinned icon on the taskbar gets a border around it, and additional icons are stacked on top of this as new windows of FF are launched. On my wife's account, launching FF creates a FF icon with a border in addition to the pinned FF icon (no border), instead of on top of it. VERY STRANGE! I compared the options of the taskbar, and they're they're set the same on both accounts. Is it possible that the taskbar would behave differently like this on a non-administrator account than on an administrator one?

 

[Saltgrass]

I can only think of two things right now.

First, are all the installs clean installs or was one a in-place update from a prior OS?

Secondly, open the system control panel and select Advanced system settings. On the Advanced tab, look through the Performance settings - Visual effects tab, to see if any differences show up there.

 

[vev46]

I can only think of two things right now.

First, are all the installs clean installs or was one a in-place update from a prior OS?

Secondly, open the system control panel and select Advanced system settings. On the Advanced tab, look through the Performance settings - Visual effects tab, to see if any differences show up there.

I did exactly as you suggested; there are NO differences between the Visual Effects settings on my account compared to my wife's account.

BTW, (important): I had originally thought that ALL my pinned taskbar icons behaved the same, but it seems that only Firefox and Thunderbird do this (sorry, my bad!) I guess I ought to start looking at the options settings of those pgms.

 

[rronaldson]

vev46 this seems to be a known "fault". See here Link Removed - Invalid URL . Just unpin the unused taskbar icon for Firefox or Thunderbird and then pin the opened icon to the taskbar. After that it doesn't seem to duplicate the icon.

 

[vev46]

Rachel, O Rachel!! You're a genius! Now please let me know where in the world this solution came from, or if it was discovered by trial & error.

You made my day

Vic

 

[rronaldson]

Shucks Vic I use Firefox and Thunderbird and noticed this peculiarity with the pinned icons so I did some Google searches and came across the answer. Must be something about these latest versions of the software.