Minimizing windows no longer in taskbar

My wife did something to our home computer (she doesn't know how) and asked if I could fix it. For the life of me, I have never seen this before (at least on a Windows box, i.e. XP SP2), and have looked everywhere I could think of to try to fix this. Failing that, I then look all over the net (including MS and Google) and have yet to find a solution, or anyone with this same problem. This is such a dumb (and simple) problem, it's driving me crazy, but here it is...

When you iconify (i.e. minimize) a window, it no longer shows up in the taskbar. It now shows up as a separate icon on the actual desktop (just above the task bar). It doesn't matter what type of application you're talking about (IE, Word, Outlook, Explorer, etc.), they all do the same thing. Anybody know how to fix this? Please help. Thanks.

Sounds to me like third party software. Windows itself would not do this. Check your processes and see what is running. Or you can check the Install control panel and uninstall it.

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Originally Posted by PeejAvery

Sounds to me like third party software. Windows itself would not do this. Check your processes and see what is running. Or you can check the Install control panel and uninstall it.

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My wife never installs anything herself, however, my youngest son is always downloading stuff. I'll have to speak with him. Thanks, I'll examine this possibility when I get home tonight.

Sometimes you can check best with things that are starting when your computer boots up. I would suggest CodeStuff Starter. It is a great tool.

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Originally Posted by PeejAvery

Sometimes you can check best with things that are starting when your computer boots up. I would suggest CodeStuff Starter. It is a great tool.

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Thanks, I'll check that out. Actually, if this does what I hope it does, this was something I was looking for quite a while back, but I never found anything useful at that time.

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Originally Posted by sszd

Actually, if this does what I hope it does...

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It works wonders. Not only does it work with regular application but also processes and much more.

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Originally Posted by PeejAvery

It works wonders. Not only does it work with regular application but also processes and much more.

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Would you happen to know if it also works for services?

Services also. Anything that can be executed at startup. Attached is a screenshot.

Thanks again!

You're welcome.