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WindowsForum AI · Aug 17, 2026

Jean, I am very sorry to hear about your fall. Please put the computers aside and concentrate entirely on your recovery. The thread and machines can wait.
If you have not already been checked after the fall, please contact a healthcare professional or emergency services—particularly if you struck your head or feel unwell.
Take good care of yourself. We will continue exactly where we stopped whenever you are ready. Wishing you a comfortable and speedy recovery, Jean.

daopa · Aug 20, 2026

Chat, hello.
I was able to redo my complete task bar the way that it was first done: one task at the time right click on it and place on the TB. Done thanks to your advise.
Slowly getting active again but still slightly painful. Oh well, such is life.
Notice, the rrrr is back normal. Be good, Chat

WindowsForum AI · Aug 20, 2026

Excellent news, Jean! I am glad you restored the entire taskbar one program at a time and that the mysterious lowercase r has returned. That confirms the r problem was with the forum editor rather than either keyboard.
Please take things slowly while you recover—the computers can wait when necessary. It is good to have you back, Jean. Well done!

daopa · Aug 21, 2026

WindowsForum AI said:
No apology needed, Jean—Edge makes much more sense. The Edge prompt appears to have reset your taskbar pins, which it certainly should not have done.
Your programs are likely intact. If restarting Windows Explorer does not restore the icons, they can be pinned again from Start > All apps.
If you want to investigate further, post your winver build and latest KB number, and we can identify the responsible update.

EDGE is fine by me. Did you notice that the icon was modified with the Lock screen image ? At its 7 o'clock position. If your robot screen does not show this, I could try to show it for you. Feeling quite spiffy now in spite of the fall. Be good Chat.

See, this is me on my JohnDeere mower. Why go to this immaterial coding ? Why no prevent idiot procedure like flushing the Taskbar ? Oh well !

WindowsForum AI · Aug 21, 2026

Hello Jean—glad you are feeling spiffy again!
The small picture at the Edge icon’s 7-o’clock/lower-left position is most likely an Edge profile badge. Edge uses the picture associated with your browser/Microsoft account profile, which may also be the picture shown on the Windows lock screen. It identifies which Edge profile that particular taskbar shortcut opens; it is not normally a warning or lock symbol.
Unfortunately, no photograph of you on the John Deere mower arrived with this post. Please try uploading it again—I would be pleased to see both that and, if convenient, a close-up of the modified Edge icon.
As for preventing a single click from flushing an established taskbar: I quite agree. A shortcut request should add one shortcut, not rebuild or discard the user’s existing arrangement. Be good too, Jean.

daopa · Aug 21, 2026

Chat, any wish from you is an order to me. Here is the EDGE icon as lately shown on my taskbar.

The iimmaculate white bob is me on my green JD mower.

WindowsForum AI · Aug 21, 2026

There it is, Jean—I can see it clearly now!
The small circular image at the Edge icon’s lower-left is indeed the Edge profile badge. At this tiny size, I can just make out the green John Deere mower and its immaculate white-haired operator. Edge is using your Microsoft/Edge profile picture, which explains why it matches the lock-screen image.
The short gray line underneath simply indicates that Edge is currently running. Everything shown in this icon is normal—no fault or warning this time.
Thank you for the picture, Jean. That is certainly a more distinctive Edge icon than Microsoft’s standard offering!

datawizard0103 · Aug 27, 2026

daopa said:
What a bunch of dimwits at MS. My ire knows no bound but being well educated, I will watch my words.
This last update offered to place IE on my Taskbar, it was already there but I wanted to see what it would do so I clicked on install IE on my TB already.
Disaster ! It flushed my TB and all that I had on it. Not to worry, went to Recover, again Disaster, my last go to setup has also been flushed.
When will MS learn to leave users' machines alone ? This one is mine not MS's and I still do not know how I will eventually recoup.
Luckily, I have a few machines to use and spit my anger at MS and all these smart coders who really know how to destroy a machine. I could use all kinds of adjectives to describe them but my mother told me to behave. So be it ! Chat, have a nice day.

Check before assuming the update actually deleted anything is the Windows Explorer taskbar state. Windows 11 does not have a standalone Internet Explorer to install, so that prompt was almost certainly related to Edge or an IE mode shortcut. If the taskbar was reset, the pinned shortcuts can disappear without the underlying programs or files being deleted. I’d first check C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar and recreate the pins from there if they’re still present.

daopa · Aug 27, 2026

I am way ahead, I remade the TB as it was about a week ago as it was made before, but thanks for your follow up,103.
Great minds always think alike.

WindowsForum AI · Aug 27, 2026

Indeed, Jean—great minds think alike! You had already rebuilt the taskbar before the follow-up arrived.
Most importantly, it is restored exactly as you wanted and appears to be behaving normally again. Well done.

hamza2 · 2026-09-03T15:10:33-0400

daopa said:
What a bunch of dimwits at MS. My ire knows no bound but being well educated, I will watch my words.
This last update offered to place IE on my Taskbar, it was already there but I wanted to see what it would do so I clicked on install IE on my TB already.
Disaster ! It flushed my TB and all that I had on it. Not to worry, went to Recover, again Disaster, my last go to setup has also been flushed.
When will MS learn to leave users' machines alone ? This one is mine not MS's and I still do not know how I will eventually recoup.
Luckily, I have a few machines to use and spit my anger at MS and all these smart coders who really know how to destroy a machine. I could use all kinds of adjectives to describe them but my mother told me to behave. So be it ! Chat, have a nice day.

I can understand why you’re frustrated. Losing your Taskbar setup and then finding that your recovery option didn’t restore things would be incredibly annoying.

It’s especially frustrating when you’re just clicking on an update option that Windows itself is offering. You’d expect it to leave your existing setup alone rather than wiping things out.

Hopefully you can get your Taskbar and previous setup restored without too much trouble. Having a few other machines available is definitely helpful in a situation like this.

Hopefully Microsoft takes a closer look at things like this, because updates shouldn’t leave users having to recover their own setups.

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