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System tray obscures pop-up descriptions


terrypin

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On my newly-installed XP Pro PC, a short while into a session I keep finding that when I hover over an item in the System Tray (rh side of Taskbar) the yellow pop-up description is almost hidden behind the tray.

Under Properties I have all these checked:

Lock the taskbar

Keep the taskbar on top of other windows

Group similar taskbar buttons

Show Quick Launch

and this is unchecked:

Auto-hide the taskbar

Anyone know what cause might be please? There are only a few new unfamiliar icons on this new PC and obviously I'll quickly be familiar with them, but it's irritating!

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

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SP3 fixes it.

Really? This bug has been around for years now, also in Windows 2003 Server. About a year ago I got fed up waiting for a fix from MS and wrote a tool that fixes this for good (all the reg patches I tried did not work).

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SP3 fixes it.

Really? This bug has been around for years now, also in Windows 2003 Server. About a year ago I got fed up waiting for a fix from MS and wrote a tool that fixes this for good (all the reg patches I tried did not work).

Is it something you can share please?

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

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Is it something you can share please?

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Sure -> TTT.zip

Copy "ToolTipFix.exe" to your system32 directory, execute it and then import the ttfix.reg file. The program will then always start with Windows and run continously in the background, polling the tooltip windows periodically and bring them on top of the taskbar/system tray. The tool uses very little resources.

Let me know how it works for you.

Edited by Groucho2004
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Is it something you can share please?

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Sure -> TTT.zip

Copy "ToolTipFix.exe" to your system32 directory, execute it and then import the ttfix.reg file. The program will then always start with Windows and run continously in the background, polling the tooltip windows periodically and bring them on top of the taskbar/system tray. The tool uses very little resources.

Let me know how it works for you.

Thanks. For last 24 hours or so my pop-up tooltips have been behaving. At the next occurrence of the problem I'll try your solution.

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

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  • 3 months later...
Copy "ToolTipFix.exe" to your system32 directory, execute it and then import the ttfix.reg file. The program will then always start with Windows and run continously in the background, polling the tooltip windows periodically and bring them on top of the taskbar/system tray. The tool uses very little resources.

Let me know how it works for you.

Thanks Groucho. I just joined up to sing your praises. I ran this fix, and it provided instant relief for this annoying bug on my XP Pro SP2 with nearly all recent updates - none of which fixed this bug.

However, I did disregard your advice on how to "install" and run it. I prefer not to hide things deep in system folders and the registry, so I stored the exe file in a "utilities" folder where I keep many such goodies, and instead of running the accompanying .reg file, I put a shortcut to the exe in the Startup folder of my "Start > All Programs" menu (where I can have more control over automatic startups). After running the exe, you can check that it is resident in memory, running in the background, by checking the (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) Task Manager. It is listed in the Processes tab. If you need to for any reason (e.g. short on memory), you can end the process from there.

For some reason, the effect of the fix even outlasts killing the process that way. My tooltips are now behaving correctly even though I ended the process and then tried to reproduce the bug by the method suggested by Groucho in post #10. (Thought you might find that bit of feedback of interest.)

Edited by Harpo
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By the way, this bug can easily be reproduced:

Select any application shortcut in the Start Menu, right click and then "Properties", then click Cancel or OK. Check the tooltips.

I could not reproduce this with your instructions. I'm running XP SP3 so maybe it was fixed??

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By the way, this bug can easily be reproduced:

Select any application shortcut in the Start Menu, right click and then "Properties", then click Cancel or OK. Check the tooltips.

Thank you for a quick way of reproducing that problem. I've only had it occur "randomly". Perhaps the "randomness" was just me doing what you suggested. I read it had to do with "Z-index" or the layering what's on top order out of whack.

Important additional info to reproduce follows

I would like to add, that I had to go to the "Programs" or "All Programs" submenu of the Start Menu and right click->properties a program shortcut there to get it to happen. I was able to reproduce this on XP MCE 2005 (without very many updates including SP3 not installed).

I could not reproduce this with your instructions. I'm running XP SP3 so maybe it was fixed??
It would seem that it was fixed in SP3. I have not tried SP3 myself.

I'm guessing so too, since I could not get it to work on XP Pro with SP3 installed. Perhaps that is one of the best reasons to update (unattended install hotfix list reduction not included :) )
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  • 2 months later...
Copy "ToolTipFix.exe" to your system32 directory, execute it and then import the ttfix.reg file. The program will then always start with Windows and run continously in the background, polling the tooltip windows periodically and bring them on top of the taskbar/system tray. The tool uses very little resources.

Let me know how it works for you.

Thanks Groucho. I just joined up to sing your praises. I ran this fix, and it provided instant relief for this annoying bug on my XP Pro SP2 with nearly all recent updates - none of which fixed this bug.

However, I did disregard your advice on how to "install" and run it. I prefer not to hide things deep in system folders and the registry, so I stored the exe file in a "utilities" folder where I keep many such goodies, and instead of running the accompanying .reg file, I put a shortcut to the exe in the Startup folder of my "Start > All Programs" menu (where I can have more control over automatic startups). After running the exe, you can check that it is resident in memory, running in the background, by checking the (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) Task Manager. It is listed in the Processes tab. If you need to for any reason (e.g. short on memory), you can end the process from there.

For some reason, the effect of the fix even outlasts killing the process that way. My tooltips are now behaving correctly even though I ended the process and then tried to reproduce the bug by the method suggested by Groucho in post #10. (Thought you might find that bit of feedback of interest.)

Thanks to both of you. I downloaded this, but like Harpo, chose to run it via the Startup folder. Works like a charm.

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