Member Avatar for leahodoran

I woke up this morning and only half of my computer screen is up the other half has the "start" icon and the address bars that show what programs that I have running, it also has the time and date. My daughter was playing Webkinz last night, as she always does. Usually, I can use tthe little arrow and drop and drag the screen, but the arrows dont come up when I put the cursor there

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What you describe is classic of the Windows XP taskbar getting oversized or moved after a game changes screen mode. If the resize handles do not appear or parts of dialogs are off-screen, you can still recover without relying on the mouse or the right edge of the display.

Try these keyboard-friendly fixes:

  • Restart the Windows shell (often snaps the taskbar back to normal). Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager. Go to the Processes tab, select explorer.exe, click End Process, then File > New Task (Run...) and type: explorer.exe
  • Launch System Restore directly even if buttons are off-screen. In Task Manager, choose File > New Task (Run...) and type: rstrui.exe. Follow the wizard to pick a restore point from before the issue started. Microsoft documents XP System Restore here: How to restore Windows XP to a previous state.
  • If the taskbar became tall because extra toolbars were turned on (you mentioned seeing address bars), open Control Panel via Task Manager (File > New Task > type: control). Open "Taskbar and Start Menu". On the Toolbars tab, uncheck items like Address, Links, or Desktop to reduce the taskbar’s height. Apply, then close.

Notes:

  • These steps do not depend on seeing the right side of any window.
  • If the problem returns after a specific game, update your display driver and run the game in windowed mode to avoid resolution changes that confuse the shell.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for A_member

As half the screen is occupied by the taskbar the resolution may have changed, open display properties(right click desktop > properties), goto settings check if the resolution has been set to 640*480 or 800*600, if so change it to 1024*768(the most commonly used resolution based on my site's visitor stats. If your resolution is or over 1024*768, a shortcut to fix the problem is to restore your computer to yesterday's settings, if it's not the resolution and you need to know how to restore the computer reply to this post.

Member Avatar for A_member

Another possibility could be your task manager was resized to occupy half the screen...

Member Avatar for leahodoran

As half the screen is occupied by the taskbar the resolution may have changed, open display properties(right click desktop > properties), goto settings check if the resolution has been set to 640*480 or 800*600, if so change it to 1024*768(the most commonly used resolution based on my site's visitor stats. If your resolution is or over 1024*768, a shortcut to fix the problem is to restore your computer to yesterday's settings, if it's not the resolution and you need to know how to restore the computer reply to this post.

Thank you for your help, however the current settings were at 1024*768. Please let me know how I can restore back to yesterdays settings.

Thank you!

Member Avatar for The Dude

Have you tried a system restore to yesterday??

Welcome to daniweb :)

Member Avatar for leahodoran

I tried...I went to assesories, system tools, and restore to yesterday and I tried the day before. However, I cant see the right side of the screen. It seemed to do something as the hour glass was up for a minute but I restarted the computer and nothing....any suggestions?

Member Avatar for uniquestar

can you post a screenshot?

Member Avatar for caperjack

I woke up this morning and only half of my computer screen is up the other half has the "start" icon and the address bars that show what programs that I have running, it also has the time and date.

so you can see both sides of the monitor ,one showing the taskbar the other the desktop
,right click on the half that is showing the taskbar and uncheck lock the taskbar ,then you should be able to drag it back to size .

Member Avatar for A_member

I guess a screenshot would be needed...

Member Avatar for uniquestar

let us know if you would like some instructions on how to do a screenshot.

Member Avatar for caperjack

my guess is it would look something like this ,and my guess is he'll never be back with his screen shot lol

Member Avatar for ASTRO55

I right clicked on the start menu then I unchecked lock the taskbar and it made the arrows to move it appear again thank you..

Member Avatar for Barbara_2

I was working on my Computer yesterday and the Screen suddenly wnet to half of the screen showing the time and date. I have changed something in properties. That may have also been the cause. I also

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