Task Manager Launches to System Tray

#1 SoSoSewer2000

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 03:22 PM

System: Vista Home Premium 6.0 SP1 on Toshiba Laptop Satellite

My non-critical, but very aggravating problem is:
Task Manager opens minimzed to the System Tray.

What I have tried:
My viruses scanner is uptodate and there are no viruses or trojan horses
Have run computer in safe mode to make sure minimize on use is not checked
I am running Tskmgr as Administrator
Pressing Ctrl-Atl-Del or Ctrl-Alt-Esc and choosing Task Manager doesn't help, it just opens another incident on the Systray

I can't right click on Task Manager on the systray and maximize it, so I can't (as Microsoft suggest) see if Minimize on use is checked. I don't ever choose anything to Minimize on Use so my best bet would be that it is not checked.

#2 garmanma

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 06:03 PM

Task Manager is resizable. Try to click and drag the border to see if it will resize

This post has been edited by garmanma: 11 January 2009 - 06:03 PM

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#3 SoSoSewer2000

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Posted 12 January 2009 - 07:06 PM

There is nothing to grab, it's minimized on the system tray.

#4 Zllio

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 10:45 AM

Hi SoSoSewer2000,

If you right-click on your Startup folder in your Start menu, and click on Open, is there a Shortcut in there that points to C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe ? If so, try right-clicking on it and see if you can get to properties.

Alternatively, try going to C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe and right-click on it to open the Properties window.

I would like for you to see if there's a Shortcut tab. If so, can you see what the setting is next to Run? It should be Normal Window.

Zllio

#5 SoSoSewer2000

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 03:32 PM

Zllio:

There is nothing in my Startup folder and there is not a shortcut tab when I right click on C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe.

I created a shortcut on my desktop and added it to Quick Launch and both of them have it running in Normal Window. I tried changing to run maximized and it still launches it minimized.

I pinned it to my Startmenu, but the properties have no shortcut tab.

Sososewer2000

#6 Zllio

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Posted 15 January 2009 - 05:41 AM

Hi SoSoSewer2000,

It's possible malware is causing that, even though your antivirus isn't picking it up. I would recommend asking the people in the Am I Infected forum if they think this could be caused by malware and if so, how you should proceed.

Zllio