Sometimes my quick launch toolbar is hollow?

It seems to happen intermitently when I have been doing other things, I suppose the memory used to store the contents of the quick launch toolbar is being used for other things. It is just an annoyance, because the contents of the quick launch toolbar are filled in (usually in less than two seconds). I might be wrong, but two seconds can seem a long time to wait to click on a 'Quick' anything. I am running two ~2 Ghz machines using Windows XP SP1 and 1 Gb of memory. Is there a register setting or other 'Tweak' I can use to assure that my quicklaunch toolbar is always 'propagated' and ready for use? paj692

Are you saying that when you click the icon it is slow to open?

Or do the icons disappear? Or is the extended menu slow to appear?

Do you have Lock the Taskbar clicked? (Option via right clicking the Taskbar).

In general this Taskbar tweak is widely recommended:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

My quicklaunch toolbar is on the left side of my screen. The options are show title is checked, autohide is checked, and always on top is unchecked. When I hover over it, it usually pops right up with icons and everything, but sometimes (and this is what my post was about), it is empty. In other words, a vertical line about an inch into the screen, with whatever is behind it showing through. Like I said, the background and icons return to normal after a second or two, but I figure it is because the memory containing the quicklaunch icons is temporarily unavailable. I'm looking for a registry setting or a manage computer msc or some other tweak that will reserve or set aside enough memory so that this never occurs. Sorry I wasn't more clear earlier. paj692

I am using XP Pro and I do not have those options Re: Quick Launch.

The Taskbar has an Auto hide Are you running a third party skin?

Anyway you should not have Autohide checked and always On Top should be checked if you want the behavior you describe.

There is a setting to allow for performance to take precedent over appearance via:

start > rt. click My Computer > click Properties > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Visual Effects > Adjust for best performance

You might also try toggling off/on the Quick Launch as a reset function.

I also use XP Professional with SP1,
If you turn off lock toolbars, and you grab the 'handle' for the quick launch toolbar, you can drag it into the desktop. It creates a rectangle with all your quick launch icons in it. You can then move it to one of the other sides and it will 'join' to that side. You can right click it and it will give you those options. Always on top, auto-hide, show text, show title, etc.
Thanks for the suggestions, I will take a look at my performance settings, I didn't understand what you meant by toggling on/off the quick launch as a reset function, could you explain more clearly? Thanks paj692

OK I see that but all of these settings as far as I can see relate to the Taskbar.

Quick Launch being just one aspect of the Taskbar.

If you normally run with an expanded Taskbar this might be an issue.

What I meant by toggling is to turn off Quick Launch and then restart it.

Right click the Taskbar then expand Toolbars and UnCheck Quick Launch.

Then go back and ReCheck it.

Also how many icons are in your Quick Launch? This could also be a factor.

Also make sure that all you have are shortcuts. Not the actual files.

Turning it off may clear everything but the default: IE; WMP; & Desktop.


.

Thanks for the explanation of toggling. When the taskbar is at the top of the screen and the quick launch toolbar is at the left of the screen they operate independently. I do have a lot of icons 30-50, that is part of the problem. Under windows 98 you could add memory to the icon cache and that helped with all the constant refreshing of icons. I hoped there was such a thing for Windows XP. I do restart the Quicklaunch toolbar fairly regularly, since when the system shuts down (due to an explorer problem or a unresolvable conflict that requires hitting reset on the computer), sometimes the quicklaunch toolbar is gone. All the icons are there when I right click on the task bar and select quick launch toolbar. Then I drag it into the screen again and put it on the left side and turn on auto-hide. The auto hide of the main taskbar (at the top) and the quick launch toolbar (at the left side) operate independently. I did go into the performance settings and said to use more processor for the cache and the background processes. Hopefully that will help. Thanks again for reading and responding. paj692

I have this exact same problem, except it only occurs when I stop extending my desktop onto a second monitor (I have a laptop, so that is something I do quite frequently). In other words, here's how I recreate the problem (using a laptop with the ability to extend my desktop to an external monitor):
1. Using just my laptop's screen, everything is fine. I boot into Windows XP normally, no problems.
2. I connect up an external monitor, and in the display settings, set things up to extend my desktop onto that monitor. After doing this, everything is still fine.
3. Now, I stop extending my desktop onto the external monitor, and hit Apply or OK. As soon as I do this and my extended desktop goes back to just being a normal desktop on my laptop screen, the Quick-Launch toolbar goes weird (as described above).

The only problem is, it doesn't go back to normal (stop being hollow) unless I restart explorer (e.g. end the process explorer.exe and then run it again, or just reboot the computer).

If you've had any success solving this problem, I'd love to hear it!

I suppose you've tried to 'manipulate it'? E.g. right-click, if this works, try always on top.
or try aligning your cursor with the edge and if it becomes a two-headed arrow, click and drag to change the width or click near the 'handle' (if you don't have the lock all toolbars option checked)? I imagine you've tried these and a few others beside, but probably nothing happens, right? That's why you have to restart explorer. I wish I could be more help but since ATI in their wisdom doesn't have dual monitor support for the AIW 9800 Pro (just a monitor and a TV output), I haven't had much recent experience. You might try a desktop manager, one usually comes with an upper-end graphics card, and it may solve your problem. Tata PAJ

Yeah, I have tried manipulating it just like you suggested, and haven't had any luck...

One thing I didn't mention is that if I go back to an extended desktop without restarting Explorer, it works fine again...as before, I have no idea why.

Oh well...thanks for your suggestions anyway -- they were helpful to make sure I hadn't missed anything.