Every once in a while the tooltips start showing up behind the taskbar so they can’t be seen. This is very annoying.
I found a fix that worked, but I’m surprised and a little dismayed that it fixes the problem. It’s like telling someone with a headache to jump around clucking like a chicken, but hey, whatever works.
The way to fix the problem (thanks to Kelly Theriot) is as follows:
Go to Start/All Programs: Hover over any program listed, right click and select Sort by Name. Repeat once more.
I sorted by name once and checked the tooltips and they still weren’t visible, so I did it again and it worked. It remains a mystery why this has any affect on the tooltips being visible, especially having to do it twice.
Update: Thanks to several commentors for pointing out ToolTipFixer, a free utility (requires .NET) that solves the tool tip problem once and for all. Another solution is to use nircmd as follows:
nircmd win settopmost class "tooltips_class32" 1
To fix other Windows XP problems, click here.
The sorting thing didn’t doe it. I think opening the start menu or the all programs menu did the thing. So sorting is not necessary, but it does a nice cleanup, tho
» Comment by Bram on October 7, 2006 @ 8:41 amInteresting. Opening the start menu or all programs definitely did not do it for me, because even after I did that (and sorted the first time), the tooltips were still hidden behind the taskbar.
» Comment by dan on October 8, 2006 @ 6:51 amWow I had a hard time finding this because I was looking for a registry tweak etc. Sure enough sorting by name in the start menu fixed it. Simply opening the all programs menu did not fix it for me though.
» Comment by martin on November 12, 2006 @ 6:10 pmI found this: http://www.tech-pro.net/howto_018.html “How To: Fix Tooltips hide behind taskbar”
This appears to be a bug in Windows. It’s caused by a conflict between windows that want to be the topmost window (in other words, appear in front of everything else.) Tooltips always want to be topmost, but if you have the Taskbar property “Keep the taskbar on top of other windows” selected, then so does the taskbar. Sometimes the messages that make the windows topmost arrive in the wrong order, so the taskbar sticks in front of the tooltips.
Solution
There is no known solution to this problem. It is caused by a bug in Windows. None of the “fixes” found elsewhere on the Internet actually work.
There are some workarounds:
» Comment by T S Raman on November 15, 2006 @ 7:19 amAvoid using the Show Desktop shortcut (Windows+D) as this often causes the problem to occur. Use Minimize All Windows (Windows+M) instead.
Don’t use “Keep the taskbar on top of other windows”. Right-click the taskbar, select properties, clear the check box for this option and then click OK.
If you prefer to keep the taskbar on top of other windows, then deselecting this option as described above, and then reselecting it again, restores the correct window order and brings the tooltips back to the front, until the next time!
TS Raman: Thanks for the info.
» Comment by dan on November 15, 2006 @ 9:28 amThe Sorting programs by name twice did nothing for me, neither did repeatedly popping open the start menu or unlocking/relocking the task bar. This has been a very annoying problem for a while, but thanks to T S Ramans description of what causes the problem I found a solution that worked for me.
Simply go into the taskbar properties and uncheck the “keep taskbar on top of other windows” Apply, then go back and re-check this setting. This refreshes windows little pecking order and fixed the problem for me.
peace & good luck, maybe Vista will be better.
» Comment by flguy123 on February 7, 2007 @ 8:36 pm[...] Re: Windows xp balloons tip size problem Are you talking about balloon tips or tooltips? I see tooltips become hidden behind the taskbar fairly often. Here is a strange fix I found: Tooltips hidden behind taskbar in XP - Amidst a tangled web [...]
» Pingback by Windows xp balloons tip size problem - Error on February 15, 2007 @ 4:35 amHeres a fix. Hope it works for you.
Just copy this into notepad and save it as a .reg file. Then merge it with the registry.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\TooltipAnimation]
“SetWindowPos”=”HwndInsertAfter, Hwnd_Top”
» Comment by Bobby on February 27, 2007 @ 9:26 pm“SetForegroundWindow”=dword:00000001
Thanks to Kelly Theriot, that little tip works great, I always wondered how to fix that. Annoying but not too troublesome.
» Comment by Tweeker182 on March 6, 2007 @ 3:25 pmThe original tip posted here worked for me. I simply put the mouse over a random submenu of the All Programs menu, right clicked, and pressed the “B” key on my keyboard (because hitting “B” selects “Sort By Name”). After doing it twice, the tooltips were on top of the Task Bar again.
I suspect the people who say it didn’t work simply didn’t do it correctly.
I also doubt the registry values shown above will be helpful. But I have not tried it.
Microsoft is not helpful, but knows about this problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912650
Isn’t it nice how they haven’t bothered to fix it, after all these years? I guess this bug can get in line–but the teller’s closed anyway.
Here’s another workaround–this one works and requires no work. It requires a third-party program, but it is one that uses VERY little memory, and essentially NO CPU time:
Discover
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/3532/main/freeware.html#discover
Run Discover, then enable the “Automatic” option from its tray icon. Then, tooltips will always be forced ABOVE the task bar, even if they were beneath it to begin with. There’s a slight delay (about a second) before the tooltip will be forced above, but this is easier and faster than using the All Programs tip.
» Comment by Ediot on March 17, 2007 @ 2:12 amI apologize for having forgotten to mention that the program I mentioned, Discover, is freeware.
» Comment by Ediot on March 17, 2007 @ 11:25 amThis is caused by right clicking in the start menu. Dont right click in the start menu.
» Comment by Nick Brozack on March 24, 2007 @ 1:49 pm“I also doubt the registry values shown above will be helpful. But I have not tried it.”
Actually they can help, according to the Microsoft MSDN Database, under the section for Creating ToolTip Controls (is at about the middle of the page). Though you may have to insert the settings manually, instead of scripted.
Linky: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/commctls/tooltip/tooltip.asp
» Comment by Taliesin on March 30, 2007 @ 1:23 pmThe tip that worked perfectly for me was the one posted by flguy:
» Comment by Ian on April 10, 2007 @ 3:20 pm“Simply go into the taskbar properties and uncheck the “keep taskbar on top of other windows” Apply, then go back and re-check this setting”
wtf silly Windows, but thanks to your blog for helping me solve this:-)
» Comment by John on April 13, 2007 @ 12:15 pmHooray, heres a new link to the tooltip fix program cuz the other one is broken
It’s probably best to drop it on ur taskbar in quicklaunch so u have easy access
http://atpeaz.placidthoughts.com/exit.php?url_id=127&entry_id=153
this is the website that’s hosting it
» Comment by Nicholas Brozack (again) on April 20, 2007 @ 2:03 pmhttp://atpeaz.placidthoughts.com/index.php?/archives/153-Fixing-the-Windows-XP2003-Taskbar-Tooltip-bug.html
OMG… This ^^^^^^^ Really Works…. Thank You.
» Comment by kimmy on May 12, 2007 @ 2:57 am[Right click anything under programs -> sort by name] X 2. Once does nothing, and twice fixes it. Crazy.
Also, I don’t know about the WIN+D thing causing it, but as the MS bug page says, the one thing that does cause it every time (near as I can tell) is opening anything on the start menu by (instead of a simple left-click) right-click -> open (or PREVIEW for pics, or whatever). Strange. I broke it and fixed it several times, just out of curiosity.
What an odd bug, and an even odder way to fix it.
» Comment by Joshua Walker on June 8, 2007 @ 3:55 amIsn’t it great that Microsoft REALLY provides an useful solution?
“Restart your computer.”
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912650
» Comment by JJLL on June 27, 2007 @ 2:16 amNone of the solutions above did it for me. What worked was killing and restarting the explorer.exe process.
» Comment by zoltan on June 28, 2007 @ 5:46 amworked for me. thanks
» Comment by Anastasios on July 13, 2007 @ 8:37 pmIt seems that this problem can be caused in a variety of ways because not one fix (err.. workaround) works for everyone.
However, the program linked in comment #16 Nicholas Brozack worked for me and I now have it on my quick launch. Annoying though.
» Comment by Joe on September 3, 2007 @ 11:50 amWorked for me:
» Comment by BengalTigger on September 18, 2007 @ 6:06 pmRight-click on open area of taskbar, the select Properties
On the “Taskbar” tab, change the setting for “Keep the taskbar on top” and click “apply”. Then, restore the setting for “Keep the taskbar on top” and click “ok”.
Neosmart has a patch that will fix this problem. Here is the link
http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=10
» Comment by Kevo on October 29, 2007 @ 10:01 amThere is a freeware program called ToolTipFixer that addresses this issue.
You can download it from NeoSmart Technologies here:
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/TTF/ToolTipFixer+Home
It’s free and takes care of the problem permenantly.
» Comment by Marc Alex on October 30, 2007 @ 5:21 amI’ve finally found the perfect solution here!
Best of all it is FREE!
» Comment by Ken Ng on October 30, 2007 @ 11:07 amUmmm, that totally worked. How f-ing weird…
» Comment by Nick on November 17, 2007 @ 11:40 pm(scratches head)
I can second zoltan’s (20) method and Nick Brozack’s (12) comment. Restarting explorer.exe from the task manager fixed it for me, and right clicking in the start > all programs menu does make the problem reappear.
» Comment by Mob R on December 22, 2007 @ 6:32 pmUnset the taskbar On-Top property, the taskbar will remain on top of windows after doing this, but the tooltips will be fixed.
However, it does NOT solve the problem for Balloon-tips. :))
(ex: done easily in AutoIt Script)
» Comment by Crash Daemonicus on January 19, 2008 @ 10:00 pmOpt(’wintitlematchmode’, 4)
WinSetOnTop(’classname=Shell_TrayWnd’,”,0)
Edit:
Disabling the taskbar on-top property manually (through the taskbar properties window) DOES fix it.
Odd.
» Comment by Crash Daemonicus on January 19, 2008 @ 10:03 pmSIMPLEST SOLUTION
Click Start, Run
In the Open text box type: tskill explorer
Explorer will stop and restart. Problem solved. No need to run any software.
» Comment by Keep It Simple Sweety on January 30, 2008 @ 10:58 pma 10kb utility which needs a 40mb+ runtime.. yeah that makes sense (at least to all dumb idiots who only can point and click).
for those who like to know whats going on ,on their system : get nircmd .
a small commandline based utility and use :
“nircmd win settopmost class “tooltips_class32″ 1″
this sets the windows class for tooltips to topmost,after that tooltips work like they should.
nircmd just sets this value ,and exits,no cpu/ram is further used !!! you can create a shortcut/.cmd file for this,so in case your tooltips are hiding,just use the shortcut and your done.
» Comment by chaos on February 6, 2008 @ 9:15 amchaos: Thanks for the tip.
» Comment by dan on February 6, 2008 @ 5:34 pmHighly recommend Nircmd, as it doesnt require a running program, Thanx a lot author!
» Comment by james on March 9, 2008 @ 11:11 amI concur. I started using nircmd and it’s been working like a charm without having to keep anything running.
» Comment by dan on March 9, 2008 @ 8:54 pmomg the “tskill explorer” in RUN really do the trick ! after everything ive tried (other than using any software) this is the best solution ever! Fast, safe, and effortless.
» Comment by KLH on April 14, 2008 @ 10:23 pmThe sort trick didn’t work the first couple times I tried it. I did it a few more times, then it worked.
» Comment by PENIX on April 18, 2008 @ 8:37 amHuh! It worked on the first try! Go figure…
» Comment by Sam on June 6, 2008 @ 6:39 pmtskill works, but it also removes some icons in the taskbar program tray area (where the clock is) … they just disappear! But the programs are still loaded in memory, as shown by taskmanager. But even taskmanager’s icon is now missing. The way to restore the icons is to use taskmanager … first use taskmanager to remove the program by highlighting it in the processes view and then clicking “end process” … and then manually restart the program and its icon will return to the task bar program area. This works for all program except for taskmanager itself, whose icon will only remain there if the taskmanager window is never closed. What a nuisance.
» Comment by /wam on July 2, 2008 @ 2:45 am